King of the wildlings
by alricfrost
Summary: a character from codex alera ends up in westeros. the first few chapters would be the backstory of the character. i'll try to get the character to westeros within 3 or 4 chapters. then we can continue the story in the most brutal universe created by g.r.r.m. english is my second language and this is my first ever attempt at writing something. i hope you like it.
1. Wasteland

Journal of Alric Frost

I was the only living being within eyesight. Hell i was the only living being on the entire continent. Well maybe the one of the only two living beings on the continent. The other being the queen. And we were both desperately trying to kill each other. The queen in question was the vord queen. This continent once belonged to the proud race of canim. A wolf like creatures that stand as tall as 7 feet. There were millions of them before the vord showed up. Now all that remained was vord. A few of them fled to my continent of alera. That's all that remains of the once proud race. but where are my manners, you don't even know what the vord are.

Well, let me introduce you. Vord are these other worldly creatures that go from one world to another destroying life until all that's left is vord. The tricky thing about the vord is that the queen can produce millions of vord in matter of months. Each specifically designed to outfight the enemy. The vord were bigger than you, stronger than you, faster than you. But all that wasn't even the scariest thing about them. The scariest thing was they were all controlled by the queens. Imagine millions of soldiers but one mind to control their actions. Perfect discipline.

But it was also their greatest weakness. For you did not need to kill millions of vord, but just their brain. The queens. It wasn't easy as they were very fast and they could read your mind if you were near them. So anything that you planned they would know immediately. It took an incredible self control and disciplined mind to outsmart a vord queen. Even then it wasn't sometimes enough. My people barely survived meeting the one queen. If it had not been for our land being as it is, we never would have stood a chance.

You see alera is unique. The elements in alera are quite literally alive. The air, the fire, the earth, the water, the wood and the metal. We call these alive elements the furies and the act of controlling them furycraft. When my people arrived, we know not from where, they were just regular humans. But as new generations were born, we found that some furies responded to our control as if they were a part of us. Some people were able to control just one type of craft like metal. Others all of them. Those that controlled all of them were individual powers to be reckoned with. So naturally they became the lords. My family being the most prominent among them. Due to these lucky circumstances, my father was able to kill 2 queens. He was fast because of air, resilient because of metal, self healing because of water, charismatic because of fire, strong because of earth, and crafty because of wood.

See the problem was the queens could produce another queen every moon. Luckily for us, however, the original queen for some reason removed that ability from the subsequent queens. My father killed the original queen when she attacked alera. And he also killed one on this continent while he was rescuing the remnants of canim race. That left only one for me to kill. Hell, if my father could kill two, i can manage one. after all my father was just an aleran. i, on the other hand, am half aleran and half marat. marat were a separate humanoid race. they were white haired, graceful, strong, and they had unique ability to bond with other beings. any living beings. my mother to her frustration found herself bonded with my father. hence, me. however, i had not bonded with anyone or anything yet. even though i had the traditional white hair and white pupils.

So here i was at the tender age of 15, a crown prince of alera, second in line to the throne, trying to kill the last vord queen. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't trying to win glory or outshine my father. No i was in self imposed exile. You see i was a twin, a younger twin. My brother maximus being the eldest. We had been very competitive from as early an age as i can remember. My brother was quiet while i was loud. I never stopped to consider that our fun competition might have any other implications. While we were studying at the royal academy, we were in every noble of alera's eyesight. All they saw was me. How i was outshining the crown prince. How i could beat him with my blade. At chess. Or even at fury craft. I never paid any mind to the praises they sung of me. I drank it all in. Strong alric. Invincible Alric. King Alric. But reality is harsher than the fancies of a 14 year old prince. Reality came back in the form of my beloved brother being poisoned by those who thought i should be king. I could see their thinking. We barely survived the first queen. So they wanted a strong king for when the time came to face the last one. Nobody blamed me, not even my quiet brother while he was recovering in the palace. But i knew this could happen again, so i bid my brother farewell while he slept. And flew across the ocean to this thrice damned continent.

My first instinct had been to simply start killing any vord i found. I lost that battle. There were too many of the fuckers. I barely survived when the queen directed millions of the fuckers to come at me. But i luckily found refuge in a volcano and was able to use its fire and heat to burn any that came near me. And there i was under siege. however, i could hide in the volcano but i couldn't eat the volcano. Things were getting desperate. So i decided to eat the vord, the ones that came close enough to the volcano that is. Then i remembered my brother and me hunting small leftover vord from the first war. We used to lay a trap by destroying their food supply which was this green croach that covered this entire continent. When they came to repair the croach, we would unleash the fire furies. Burning the bastards alive. Not that they were ever alive. Only the queens were. So, i decided to follow the same plan here. Only i would need one hell of a fire to kill the queen. She wasn't some broken soldier vord that lost the war. I needed something bigger than small fire furies i personally was able to call upon. Enter the volcano. Back home, the volcanoes were alive. They were referred to as the great furies. But not so commonly known fact is that if you know just how. You can make the volcano erupt anytime you want. That's what my father did. Every city in alera was built upon a volcano. Idea was that if we fall, you will die with us.

Only problem for me was that these volcanoes were not alive like back home. So i was feeding all the anger i had through my fire furies into the volcano and churning it like a witch's cauldron. Just any moment now, all my tiny furies would meld into one giant fury, a great fury. But i had to be careful. If i didn't control the said fury by subjugating it to my control right away, it's going to cook me a lot faster than say the vord queen. I was fairly certain i would be able to do that. It was not the first volcano that i was turning into a great fury. In Fact it was the last. After this, i would be ready to take on the queen. Slowly, the volcano gained consciousness. I could feel it through my water crafting. And as soon as its emotions went to the human equivalent of "huh, what is this?" i reached with my water crafting and locked its mind with mine in a struggle for dominance. First volcano had been scary. The rage and how alien its mind felt. It was after all the 47th volcano i was binding to my will. An entire continent.

With each victory i also grew strong. For the birth of a great fury allowed other elementals to gain consciousness too. Soon i had a lot more of water, air, wood, metal, earth and naturally fire furies bound to me. But even more of them were running wild on this wasteland of a continent creating havoc and destroying any vord that got in their way. But as i bound it to my will, something strange happened. I heard a voice behind me, a female voice say, "you really are a stubborn one, aren't you?" i nearly jumped out of my skin and reached for my sword as i turned around and froze. I found myself face to face with a woman, a beautiful woman floating right in the middle of the volcano. She clearly wasn't the queen. She had metallic skin, almost smoke like hair. But her eyes were the strangest, they were constantly changing from one metallic color to another.

"Who are you?", i asked.

She smiled and replied,"I don't have a name, perhaps you should name me since you are the one that gave me form."

I frowned, not understanding, "i gave you form?"

"Yes you did. While you were binding all these great furies to yourself, you were also binding the land together. And in doing so you gave consciousness to the land, and i am simply the form of the said consciousness."

"Are you bound to me as well?" i asked.

She smiled and replied, "no, but i like you far more than these creatures. The canim lived peacefully here for thousands of years. All forms of life prospered and then the vord came. They care for nothing else. they are destroying the land. So i will help you destroy them. That is what you want. Is it not?"

A wolfish smile crept on my face as i said "hell yes"

She arched a metallic eyebrow at me as if asking how are we going to do this.

"um... new plan...new plan...give me a moment...okay i'll think of something"

"well my original plan was to lure her near one or more of the volcanoes and the boom. but i still hadn't worked out how to find the nest"

she gave me a blank look so i explained. "the nest is where she makes more of the vord. its where she most likely will be."

"oh...i can find that for you if you like." she said.

"you can do that?" i asked her dumbfounded.

She laughed and to my company deprived ears, it was the most beautiful sound i had ever heard.

"i am the land" she said.

"Rightly so. I beg your pardon. So, where is she?" i asked.

She quickly made the earth in front of me shift to represent the continent and the model of the queen was sitting dead center. close to a range of volcanoes.

oh this will work perfectly fine..i thought to myself.

"Great, we know where she is, we have our weapons ready. All we need is a way to lure her out of her fort."

"And how will we do that?"

"Well, traditionally speaking, we would use a bait. something she wants to kill and then boom"

"There is only one thing on this continent she would want to kill"

we looked at each other in dead silence while the volcano beneath us sent a tremor beneath our feet. as if it was laughing at me.

"well, fuck me", i said as i realized she was right.


	2. the queen

Almost 2 years, that's how long I had been on this continent. As scary as this plan sounded, I was the only one who could carry it out. But i was not strong enough to face the queen on my own. I would never survive long enough to lure the queen out near the volcanoes. And what if she just sent all the other vord at me. I would die and it wouldn't even accomplish anything.

She must have seen my inner struggle on my face because she said,"are you sure you can do this?"

"No" I replied, "but there isn't much else we can do"

After a sombre silence, she said to me,"maybe I can help?"

Before i could even ask her how, she had crossed the space between us and pressed her hand to my temple.

I opened my eyes and found that i was alone. It was dark but it had been high noon when last i remembered. so it stands to reason that i had fallen unconscious when she touched me. One moment i was alone and the next she was there. I jerked back and yelled,"you need to stop doing that." "what" she asked me as she lifted one eyebrow. How could something so alien could look so human, i could not fathom. maybe we were changing them as well as them changing us.

"Appearing out of nowhere right in front of my face, you are going to scare me to death," i said. she just smiled. "What did you do to me?" I asked.

"I made you more of what you are" she replied.

I made a frustrated sound,"what does that even mean?"

There was a very long silence and she disappeared while whispering,"perhaps i chose wrong, you clearly aren't smart enough to outwit the queen."

I was left alone fuming. soon i realized that i was acting childish. I put my hand on the hilt of my sword and drew the metal into myself to steady my emotions. To steel myself. And as i pulled metal into myself, i realized that i kept pulling where i should have stopped. I looked down at myself and realized that my clothes were metallic and my hand had become as if made of metal. I just stood there staring at my hand. Anyone with decent amount of metal crafting could do this. Turning yourself metal was not hard, it simply took time and took concentration to keep it that way. However, I had done it in the blink of an eye.

"I made you more of what you are," i said out loud to myself,"huh."

Then reached for the earth and so much strength flowed through me that i felt like a god. I started laughing as reached for the air. Everything slowed down as i pulled some air into me while i threw rest of the air furies under me as i jumped into the volcano. the pressure of the furies threw the lava in all directions as i burst upwards at an incredible speed. I laughed the entire way. you know, i could always do these things. But on a much smaller and slower scale. It was like comparing a small water pool to a wide lake. the principal is same but the depth was much different. After flying for a little while i landed back where i had left to find that she was waiting for me.

"well, well, not so stupid it seems," she said.

"Thank you for these gifts," I replied as i bowed.

she inclined her head and asked,"are you ready?"

"As ready as I am about to be, lets do this", I replied.

"Be safe, young one." she almost looked sad.

I pondered for a while and said, "my name is Alric and i hereby name you Alera."

her eyes flashed green as if accepting the name. "remember stick to the plan, no matter what happens" I said as i took to the air again.

I reached the place where the queen was supposed to be early in the morning. the birds should have been singing their sweet song. but everything was eerily silent as i was coming closer to the ground. the vord had left nothing else alive. not even the birds. I used the air to veil myself from sight. Looking around the landscape i could see only one place where the nest would be. the caves leading inside that lonely mountain.

I hovered near the mouth of the cave, trying to see if there was any activity. I found none. so i slowly crept in under the cover of my veil. I came upon a fork soon thereafter. the one on the right looked like it was slightly sloping downwards. I picked that one because the nest had to be deep inside the mountain. after so many forks i was completely sure that if things went wrong, i wouldn't be able to find myself out of this place.

After walking for what felt like days, i reached a large hollow chamber. all around the chamber were other caves leading up-to this very chamber. this did not feel good. if the vord found me, i would be surrounded. i thought the queen couldn't possibly be here there is no activity here what so ever. which in itself was very weird. then i felt the ice float down my spine. this was a trap. I pulled all the air and metal into me. then i pulled earth into me. Earth craft is very useful in tracking. as i pulled earth in, i was able to feel out the landscape around me. that's when i sensed the vord they were packed into the caves surrounding me. damn she knew i would come.

"of course, I knew you would come" and the vord queen stepped in front of me at the other end of the chamber which looked like a spacious room. the nest of course.

she looked fragile, not particularly threatening. she was around 5 feel tall and skinny. but i knew from the stories my father told me. that skin was nigh unbreakable. only thing the penetrated that fucking skin deep enough to kill her was aleran steel while fire crafted.

i stood there waiting for the death blow to come but all the vord had frozen. then I heard her laugh. "that was quite clever, I haven't been entertained this much since the canim fled"

"well what are you waiting for. here i am come and claim your prize."

"it was a clever plan you know. lure me out and close to your volcanoes and boom as you put it. but its hard to plan against the vord. we always know what you are thinking about." she said tapping her temple and coming to the ledge of the cave door 100 feet off the ground.

"Well, i can always do it the old fashioned way i guess" i replied as my hand went to the hilt of my sword.

"are you so eager to die."

"if the alternative is hanging out here with you, then yes"

her eyes narrowed,"very well" and i felt a tremor through the mountain which caused her to stop and stare at me. I smiled at her as i sent a similar tremor through the mountain and said, "that wasn't the plan, but this is."

right then the ground started shaking violently.a few stones from above fell crushing some of the vord on the ground. the queen fell off the ledge. the vord were looking around in confusion. the queen stood up then and looked at me. she tilted her head like a dog and asked, "why bother with the volcanoes now? they will not kill me"

"well that's not to kill you, that's to trap you in here with me while no outside help can get to you. NOW ALERA"

and all the tunnels leading to the chamber were crushed as alera moved the earth around. all the vord that were trapped in the tunnels crushed to death. oh the vord queen maybe able to summon the vord outside to her. but it will take them time to dig to the heart of the mountain. and every time they dug, alera would crush them by causing the tunnels to collapse. giving me endless time alone with the queen and some few vord trapped with us in the chamber. the queen screamed as she read my actual plan in my head.

See the more you want to avoid thinking about something, the more you actually think about it. the best way to avoid doing so is to focus on something else. so i gave her a fake plan. the entire way i had been thinking of luring her out on a chase. which was a plan with very low chances of success. but i knew the queen would believe it to be genuine. because my father had taught me and my brother that vord looked at everything in numbers. what are the chances of success. so i had to have a plausible fake plan. to be honest it had been my original plan more or less. but that was before i met alera. she gave me information that i needed to formulate a fail-safe plan. i go in thinking of a fake but plausible plan. this will insure that the queen will let me in far enough until she is sure i wont be able to escape by flight or other means. she would eventually want to kill me herself. this was a gamble but i knew that the canim had left this continent around the time of my birth. so for near 16 years, queen had no one to challenge her. and i had been a thorn in her side for almost 2 years. I was correct because she had been toying with me. even when she had me surrounded. i knew she could have killed me with as many vord as she had under her command. but that time was all i needed. so that alera would successfully make all the volcanoes around us erupt. causing any far away assistance unable to reach the queen. only assistance not affected by the volcanoes would be the one near by the mountain and those would not be able to get here in time. either i will be dead by that time or she will be. i was going to ask alera to simply crush the mountain all together. but i wasn't completely sure if that would kill her. i had to be 100 percent sure. can't let the fate of the world be left to chance. and if i had tried it that way and failed it would be impossible to find her under ground again. the chance was simply too good to mess up. as the queen read my mind, she snarled and all the remaining vord in the chamber rushed at me. now there must be about 200 or so vord left inside the chamber. i had my blade in my hand. i pulled on the metal craft and all the fatigue washed away. my skin turned to metal. then the blade caught fire. the fire crafted blade was going through the vord as hot knife through butter. ultimately i got thrown around a bit but the vord soldiers were not able to penetrate my skin. after a lot of knife work, i finally got close enough to the queen. she was surrounded by 10 very large vords.

moment of truth, i reminded myself. the fate of the world hangs on your shoulders. so no pressure. you killed hundreds of vords today and hundreds of thousands over the last 2 years. you can handle 11 more.

they rushed at me. i had all the air craft i possessed pulled in, so their movements seemed slow to me. i went the one on the far left and split its skull in two with a downward swing. then i spun and took the one next to its head off. i spun to look at the queen again and smiled. "weren't there 11 of you just now?" i asked innocently. she snarled and they charged again. this time the queen joined them. even with all my air craft she was still fast. she needed no weapon. her hands morphed into long blades. I dodged and parried her strikes all the while avoiding the vord soldiers. I was too focused on the queen and i got kicked on from behind. i tried to use the momentum to my advantage and cut the queen in half. but she either read my mind or sensed what was coming because a soldier stepped into the strike and took the blow meant for her. she kicked the said soldier into me and we both went flying. i hit the wall and fell down. "weren't there 9 of you just now?"i asked as i got to my feet. i swear she was turning some weird shade of green with how angry she was becoming. they rushed me again. but this time i rushed them as well. reaching the closes vord soldiers before the queen got to me. i hacked through two of them and then i was locked in a battle with the queen again.

"i could have sworn there were 8 of you just now" i grunted each word with a blow. she screamed as she came at me. but for all her speed and all her power she didn't really know how to fight. she was used to fighting solely on her strength and speed. her skill was sloppy. i, on the other hand, was a prince of alera. so naturally, i was trained by the finest swordsman of alera, Araris Valerion. as our blades clashed, i made upwards strike after redirecting her blow meant to skewer me. my sword carved a line right from her right jawline to straight her eye. she stepped back quickly and shock was evident on her face. i think it was the first time during the confrontation that she realized she may actually die. as she stepped back in her shock, i did not stop for even a moment my blade went through the neck of the soldier on my left. i ducked as a soldier from behind swung at me. i kicked him into the two other vords. "weren't there 6 of you just now?" i asked.

i got no reaction this time. she just stood there staring at me from the far side. i guess she isn't all that fun when there is a chance she might die. another soldier came at me. this one was limping. i deflected its hand blade and shoved my sword from its jaw to its skull. yanking my blade free. "i swear there were 5 of you just now" i taunted as i walked calmly toward the last three soldiers. I'll say this about the bastards. they are loyal beasts. the entire cavern were covered with their kind. yet they showed no sign of fear. but i guess you need to have free will to have fear. i kicked the first one to reach me in the chest and it hit the wall with a sickening crunch. by then the second soldier was on me. i stepped back from its first swing and ducked under the second. as i went my sword slashed through its left leg. it fell to the ground. i turned and put my sword in the chest of the third vord. i turned around to the one vord whose leg i had taken. it was thrashing around trying to stand. i stomped on its head and crushed his head with the help of fury craft. "weren't there 4 of you just now?" i whispered as i stared at the queen. i stood up and approached the queen. as we circled each other, she said to me,"you look like him"

I tilted my head.

she must've read my thoughts because i don't think she understood human gestures well enough.

"the one who killed my sister"

"my father, i sure hope so"

"I know how a vord queen should die" she said holding her head up high. and she came at me. she was erratic, i blocked and parried all her strikes and finally as she made the mistake of over lunging i took her arm off. she never screamed. even when she stared at her arm in shock. even when my sword came around and i took her head off.


	3. A Journey Home

A journey home

I stared at the body of the vord queen. i still couldn't believe that i actually succeeded. it felt like a dream. i nudged her with my foot. definitely not a dream. whooof. i still had my sword in hand. but with my left hand i summoned fire and burned her body and head. i stared around me. there were so many dead vord. i was too tired to burn them all.

"Alera" i said softly and she was there in a heartbeat. she looked around and saw the carnage. finally looking at the burning corpse of the queen. "well done, little one", she said.

"thanks, do you think you can lend me a hand with burning this hole to the ground especially that nest", i asked.

"hmm, sure. why dont you hide in the nest while i burn these quickly."

"sure" i replied and i quickly stepped inside the nest. my father told us about the nests he had seen. but its one thing to be told and another to see it with your own eyes. there were some vord that looked...half born? half made? oh well it hardly mattered now. i turned to another corner and saw flowers. oh that's right. my mother told us about those. they had remarkable properties. they could cure almost any desease and were a powerful cure for most poisons. I quickly crossed the room and started snatching the little beads off of those plants. I could hear the sizzling outside while i was stealing beads more precious than diamonds.

when i had taken all the beads that i could, i stepped outside to the chamber. it was all smoking. i looked at alera and said, "now if you dont mind, please burn the nest down"

she smiled and replied,"gladly." she must be more happy than me to get rid of the vord. or at least she will be. now that there was no queen to control them, they were little more than animals. As she was setting fire to the nest, she casually said,"oh,i almost forgot. all the vord are waiting outside this mountain for you."

That didn't sound good. "what do you mean, all the vord," i asked her. they shouldn't be. there was no one giving them commands anymore.

"I mean every vord on this continent that wasn't killed by the volcanoes, is actively trying to claw their way into this mountain." she replied while still burning the nest.

but how i thought. that's when it hit me. when the queen must have realized she was going to die. she issued a last command to all the vord of this continent. kill me probably or something of that variation.

"how many?"

"millions"

well...hell.

I made a small rough pool in the middle of the chamber with earth craft and filled it by pulling water from deep in the ground. I stepped in and tried to water craft myself to this small lake that wasn't far from the mountain. as soon as i was done watercrafting. vord of all sorts attacked me. that confirms my theory. she told them to kill me. the sky and ground around the mountain looked black due to the number of vords in the sky and on the ground. a problem for later i said to myself. i tried reaching towards alera but i could only project myself a few miles in to the ocean.

i started pacing the chamber. "how long do i have?"

"they will reach here before nightfall"

"so i still have some time" i said more to myself than her. they must be disorganized now because they no longer have a queen directing them. right right. first things first. i have to let my family know that the queen is dead. so even if i die, they would know that the threat of vord is over. we would be able to reclaim this continent slowly. water crafting an image of yourself into a body of water was not particularly hard. it was a good way of communicating with troops or gathering intelligence. but it was hard over long distances. and i was on a different continent than my family. i looked at alera. the nest was almost gone.

"this is a shot in the dark but you wouldn't be able to help me watercraft a message across to Alera? would you?"

she was silent for a while as if in thought.

"we can try", she replied.

so we tried again together this time.

"i will" she seemed to be struggling to find a word "attach myself to you temporarily. you should be able to use all of my water crafting for a small amount of time. but beware, you might die if you tried to handle that much crafting for too long."

she came towards me and sort of turned transparent. as she came to the exact position at the exact space i was, i was suddenly able to feel her tremendous power coursing through her to me.

"easy little one. only focus on water or you might hurt yourself"

To this day, i do not know if she spoke those words aloud or in my head. but i heeded her warning. I felt the water around me and deep in the ground. i could feel all the coastline of this continent. but i focused on the ocean it self. the closest city would be Antillus near the shieldwall. I reached for the city and to my surprise i found that i could. then i tried reaching further to where Placida was. Again i could. i should have left a message with someone at Antillus to be honest. but i wanted to see my family. so i reached with all the watercraft i could manage until i felt like i will break apart into water myself. but i reached the cauldron valley. i reached home.

My water crafting was standing in the middle of the royal academy and it was a little more dark there than it was where i actually was. i shouted a couple of time until someone came running. An old man.

"Alric, is that you?" someone asked. i turned and saw a man. well into his years but still packed with muscle and a traitor's mark burnt in on his right cheek.

I nodded,"yes, its me, uncle Rari."

"where are you?"

"i am far. i don't think i can hold this for very long. do you mind getting my family?" i asked my old sword master.

"No need" i looked up and saw my father touching down followed by my mother and brother.

"father, how did you find me?" i asked sheepishly. i knew he would be angry that i had run off.

"no matter how clever you are, Alric. no one can fury craft that powerfully into my house without me finding out. how are you doing that by the way?"

"Boys" my mother said. Making it sound like a disgusting word.

"you finally see your son after two years and that's what you are asking him?"

my father looked a bit embarrassed. my mother opened her mouth to say something but i cut her off.

"i can't hold this for too long. so listen. i fled to canim home world to protect my brother. for two years, i have been here trying to kill the queen. i can't give you full account but she died by my hand not too long ago today. but before she died, she gave every vord on the continent an order to kill me. so right now i am surrounded by millions of vord."

my crafting started falling apart so i kept the message short.

"this continent is now free. all the queens are gone. the canim should be able to retake their home with a little help. i will try now to come back home if i can get out of this mess alive"

the crafting started crippling again. with my last few moments i said,"if not, remember i love you all." and then the crafting crippled. but i could have sworn my father shouted something at me as it ended.

I woke up in the dark. i mean it wasn't the sky that was dark. i mean it was pitch black. i felt for my blade. thank the furies, it was still there. i pulled it out and fire crafted it. i was able to see with the fire that i was under ground. i reached for earth and found that i was being moved under ground while the vord had reached the chamber now. it must be Alera. I said her name and she was there. "thank you for saving my life, again" i said.

"Thank your father, i heard him yell before the crafting broke"

"really, i thought i must have dreamt that. what did he say"

"Go deep"

ah right. that was my father. always two steps ahead of everyone.

"where are we?" i asked her.

"100 feet beneath the surface and about a mile away from where we were. we will reach coast by morning"

"no, go another mile and surface. we will be far enough for me to fly away under a veil."

"As you wish" she replied.

I was sick of this continent. all i had done since i got here was fight. when i was kid, all i wanted to do was fight. but 2 years of barely surviving can beat that out of everyone i guess. no matter how stubborn they are.

I rested in silence the entire way. i must've dozed off because i woke up when Alera said,"we are here, little one."

"thanks" i muttered.

i gathered my bearings alera was taking us to the surface. I pulled on metal, air and earth. As soon as we surfaced, i whispered"goodbye". then i took to the air while simultaneously veiling myself. I flew high and fast. and soon enough i could smell the ocean. just as i was almost tasting home, i crashed into something. i started to fall. i would have fallen to my death if not for my metal and air craft. when i cleared the clouds, i saw what i collided with. A solid wall of the bird like huge vord flying all over the coast. that bitch. she must've known that i would head straight for alera once i kill her. even in my desperate situation, i had to admire her tactic. this was her backup plan's backup.

if she failed to kill me herself, then her vord would keep attacking the mountain. but if i somehow was able to sneak pass them or fight pass them. i still wont be able to get home without running into these bastards. clever.

while i was pondering this, the vord had launched themselves at me. i tried desperately to avoid them. in the caves, i could fight them with my blade while i was metal crafted. but i was too high now. if i fell from here, i was sure to lose consciousness from impact. and the vord seemed to be pushing me in every direction. sooner or later they will drive me into the ground. there were too many to avoid. I was going to die. at least it wasn't in vain. I managed to kill the queen at least.

"need a hand" a voice said to me as i was being hit from all directions. i looked around desperately and saw her transparent form floating maybe 50 feet away. she seems to be coming after me. and i reached for her with all the air craft i could manage. no matter how hard we tried. i was moving too fast and too randomly for her to reach me. in the end, it was a lucky strike from another vord that pushed me to her.

Again she melted into me and i reached for all of her air craft. and as soon as i could, i made a solid wall of air around me. the few vord that were with in the wall, i quickly dispatched with my sword.

"it seems all i do is thank you for saving my life" i said.

"lets get you home before you pass out again, little one."

And i pushed towards home through all the vord. scattering them in every direction with impacts on my shield wall. i pushed hard and fast. within moments, we broke through. i never stopped though. i pushed even harder. the ocean beneath me was a blur. I was so sick of this continent that i pushed even harder until it became invisible to the naked eye. i had no idea how fast i was going. faster than the gods themselves maybe. but i kept pushing until i realized i need to look around for landscapes or the sea to see where i was going. i gradually slowed down and to my surprise i was over land.

"Ah, home" i said.

and alera parted from me. I looked below me and all i saw was forest. which was weird since there wasn't that much forest left anywhere in alera except one place. and no one was physically able to enter that place. not even the vord when they had attacked us. there was another thing. there was no croach or vord anywhere as well.

this did not feel like home. maybe i was flying so fast that i had flown past even alera. i voiced my concerns to alera and she seemed surprised. we flew around a bit, separately of course. after a while i was able to confirm that this was not alera. i had studied all the maps my whole life. i had flown with my father to almost all the cities. this land wasn't ours. and there was no croach anywhere. so it couldn't be canim home world. besides alera would have told me that if it was.

we landed in a small clearing in the forest. i was exhausted. it seemed like a safe place.

"I can't feel canea", alera whispered behind me as soon as we landed.

"what?" i asked bewildered. she had been able to reach across the ocean to alera. no matter how far we were, she should have been able to get to her homeland without much effort.

"I can't feel the land or anything from there" she said confused.

"I am sure if we flew back the way we came, we would get back. maybe we just went too far for you to sense it", i said to console her. i owed her my life a few times over.

"maybe, i have neither the knowledge of this nor the experience" she replied.

as we sat contemplating our situation, we heard loud bangs not too far off. it sounded like lightening. but there wasn't any cloud in the sky. I sighed and took back to the air. soon i was able to find the source of the commotion. There was a fight going on beneath me. of course, it had to be a fight. with my luck, what else could it be. I looked at Alera and said,"you try to figure out where we are and i will keep an eye on this"

she nodded and disappeared.

As i watched the fight below, i noticed there was only one man on one side while the other were in hundreds. seemed a bit unfair, i thought. but then the lone man held out his hand and lightening flashed from it. when the flash cleared, all his enemies were dead. all the ones in the front. what the man didn't realize was that there were other coming from behind him. i do not remember making the decision to join the fight. one moment i was observing it from above and the next i landed behind the man to block the strike meant to take his head off. it was a cowardly tactic. the man spun around just as i took the enemy's head off his shoulders. there were not that many of them and i quickly dispatched them. it didn't seem like they could fury craft at all given how slow they fought.

i turned around and bowed to the old man,"Alric, prince of Alera, at your service"

the man's eyes seem to go bigger and i saw him point at my shoulder. two things happened before i could do anything. first was the lightening that came from his hand and went over my shoulder. the second was that there was a transparent looking blade that was pointing out of my guts. confused but angry i turned around and came to face with a cloaked person. well i couldn't really see its face. just the hood. it raised another hand with another blade in it. but before it could do anything. i shoved my sword straight where i hoped its face was. and then i fell face first onto the ground.

Author's note:

I know i could have made more than one chapter of this. but like i mentioned earlier, i want to get this character to westeros as soon as possible. that's where the real story will start. so i am pushing through a lot of stuff real fast. and trying to cram it all together into one chapter. next chapter i am sure i'll be able to take him there.

cheers. i hope you like it so far.


	4. Home Sweet Home

I woke up in a bed. I seemed to be whole. my wound was gone. i looked around and it was a large room that i was in. back home it would be given to someone of importance. i walked over to the window and it looked over a beautiful forest. i turned and scanned the room. there was some food sitting at one of the table. i devoured it all. how long had it been since i had a good meal? hell it had been over a day since i ate at least. and probably 2 years since i had a good meal. when i had flown to canea i hadn't really thought it out. the entire continent was covered with vord and their croach. there was no other food available. so i had started eating the croach. and finally when desperation kicked in the vord themselves. After 2 years, this wholesome food made me feel like a human being again. I was going to venture out of my room to speak to whoever was in charge but i decided to go to bed again. it had been 2 years since i had one of those as well. and i quickly fell into a deep sleep.

When finally i woke up, i was feeling more human than i had in a long time. this time around, my brain was working better too. the crafting can make you stay awake and alert for days on end. even weeks. but when you let go, your body collapses. we are only human. and human body is not meant to be pushed too far. too much crafting can keep you alert but your brain still needs rest. after a while your brain simply stops working on the level that you know it should be working on. I learnt that long ago and this was a reminder. first time around, i hadn't noticed a single thing about this place. but now? I saw that the door was locked. the window was barred. this beautiful room suddenly felt like a prison. my belongings were all on the table. so i dressed back in to my clothes and strapped my belt and sword on. when i unsheathed the sword, i found out that it was broken. only half the blade remained. a problem for another time. i might be able to break free with fury craft but i wanted to meet the person who put me here. although they had imprisoned me, they had also saved me.

while i waited for the door to open, I studied the room and what i could see outside the window. I was roughly 100 meters high and the forest was only 150 meters or so away. unless there was a lot of this property in the direction i could not see. it wasn't especially large. so it can not be a castle. if i had to guess, it might be a home of someone wealthy. i was brought out of my thoughts when the door opened and behold it was my captor. the man i had saved.

"Prince Alric" he said as he bowed,"you saved my life. i am in your debt."

"and you repaid that debt by healing me. am i your prisoner?" I asked.

"oh you are not imprisoned, my prince. the door was shut so that you wouldn't accidentally hurt yourself" he replied.

"let me introduce myself, I am Korias and I am a wizard. and i have a few places in my humble home that if handled incorrectly could hurt someone."

he seemed genuine enough. although i still never believed him.

"perhaps we can talk more at the dinner table. you must be famished since you slept nearly 3 days."

3 days i thought. and then i thought of alera.

"I beg your pardon but i must leave. i have to find someone."

"Alera? is that who you want to find?" he smiled at my confusing look. how could he know about her. i doubt she was stupid enough to reveal herself to a complete stranger. granted she did that with me. but that must have been because i was partly responsible for her existing at all. and also i was the only person, she could have revealed herself to at that time.

i smiled at him. two can play this game. "well, you seem to know where she is then?"

"last time i checked she was in this room with you"

hmmmm..well this was getting annoying.

"Alera" i said softly and she was there instantly.

"you are harder to kill than i thought, little one" she said looking me up and down.

"yes thank you. now lets go and get something to eat. and then we can figure out where we are."

the wizard seemed to perk up at that. he said as he started walking away gesturing for me to follow, "maybe i can be of assistance? i have maps of course. but i am also very well learned."

"we sure do not know where we are. to be honest, you are our best chance of find that out"

"well, i hope i can help and repay some of the debt i owe you" he replied.

"there is no debt. you were surrounded. i am sure anyone would have done what i did."

he looked back at me with a spark in his eyes and started laughing slowly.

"what is so funny? was it something i said?" i asked him.

"my dear prince, you do not know what you were fighting did you?" he looked at my confused look and continued"the creature that stabbed you was a wraith. once a wizard. but some wizards who do not want to die with age choose a darker path to remain in the mortal world. the cost is high. they become less human and over time they become wraiths. feeding of animals even humans. but most of all they crave wizards flesh. to devour our magic to feel some of the old strength that they had."

"that sounds disgusting," i said. he laughed again as he ushered us to a large table. we sat and soon a few servants brought us food.

they bowed and left.

after a pleasant meal, we retreated to the wizard's study. it was the largest room in that place, i would learn later. he presented me a large map on the wall and said"lets find out where you are from, shall we?"

I stared at the map. there were 4 continents it seemed. but none of them seem to resemble the map of Alera.

"no, this map doesn't have my continent on it. do you have any other maps?" i asked him.

he stared at me for a while and replied,"this is the map. it contains the entire world that i live on."

"what? really? are you sure? because my home is not on it. and i know my home like the back of my hand. so there must be some area that isn't on that map."

"no. that's not possible. wizards have mapped this entire world. I was afraid this might be the case."

"you thought so. how?"

he pointed at alera and said,"because of her. we have also studied all the life forms on this planet. i doubt it that we could have missed someone like her. so it stand to reason that she is not from this world."

"and also because i can't understand your language at all. it is not of this world."

"what? but you are speaking to me."

He pointed at his bracelet and said,"because of this. it is enchanted so that the wearer can understand any language and my words seem to you as if spoken in your language."

we argued back and forth but he never gave me an inch. this was the world. all of it. i stared at the map. but how could i end up in some other world. that was impossible. i flew one way and if i flew back we should be able to go back. right? but the wizard doesn't seem to think so.

this argument went on and on for 5 days. on the 6th day, the wizard said after we finished breaking fast that he has a theory on what happened.

"Lets hear it then. nobody else can give me a rational explanation."

"From what you have told me of your home world and how you came to be here. there can only be one explanation. I always thought there were more than one world. As you explained, you flew so fast that everything became invisible to you. that was the only thing you were doing at the time. I think you might have broken through some kind of a barrier. a barrier of reality if you will. and that allowed you enter this world from yours."

i stared at him. this can not be. "so if i flew just as fast, i might be able to go home?"

"you might be." he replied with a stone face.

"i know when someone is trying to mask their emotions. what aren't you telling me wizard?"

He sighed,"you might be able to go home the way you arrived here. but you may also end up in a completely different world again."

he held his hands up and said "this is just a theory. i have never had visitors from another world before."

I sighed. it wasn't actually his fault that we were stuck here. I started pacing the room.

right.

"lets look at it rationally. either your theory is true. or its not." i looked at him and alera."if we test it and its not true. then we end back here. or at least just far away from here but still in this world. but if its true then there is a small chance that we can get home."

"we have to try" i said looking at alera,"unless you want to stay here forever."

"if you stay here, then she must remain hidden forever. or some wizard sooner or later, will try to take her power."

"well that decides it. we are leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

they both nodded and the rest of the day was spent planning the trip. the wizard was king enough to provide me with all of the necessities.

I lay awake in bed that night. i couldn't fall asleep. I kept thinking of my family every time i closed my eyes. if i do not reach home they might assume i died. And alera was here because of my fault. it was me who was controlling the furycraft. so i was responsible for bringing us here.

I kept pondering the same questions in my head and i fell into an uneasy sleep. i woke up in the morning not completely refreshed. but to hell with it. i put my clothes on and left to say my farewells. I pulled on some metal from my broken sword and the tiredness washed away.

I called for alera and together we left to find the wizard. he was in his study.

"ah, my prince. i see that you are ready to leave. would you not like something to eat before you left at least."

"i don't think i can stomach anything right now. better to get it over with." i replied.

he studied me for a while and said, "in that case, i have some parting gifts for you." he reached behind his desk and produced a sword.

"you have been gracious enough. there is no need for gifts." i said.

"oh this is not the gift. this sword is merely a replacement for yours. since you broke yours trying to save my life." he said. and with that he handed me the sword.

it was beautiful to say the least. the scabbard was white and light blue. it had fine art work all around it. as did the handle. the pommel had a large pale pearl on it. I unsheathed the sword. it barely weighed anything. it felt light as air. the blade was the exact replica of my own blade. a hand and a half sword. not too big and not too small. i could use this as well as my own blade.

"Thank you," i said to the wizard.

he waved a hand. "its the least i can do. now before you go. i should tell you about the sword. its spelled by me. so its nigh unbreakable. only way you will be able to break this is with magic stronger than mine. and that isn't easy to find." he said.

i was just staring at him as he continued " also i hope you do not mind but as i was fixing your wound earlier, i took a drop of your blood for the forging of your sword. now it will only ever work for you or those that carry your blood. if anyone else stole the blade, it will betray them sooner or later."

"thank you again" i said,"i do not know how i could ever repay you for something so valuable."

"no no. its only fair. you broke your sword trying to save me and i should be the one providing you with a replacement."

"but any ordinary sword would have done that" i replied.

he smiled and replied "yes, it could. but i wanted to show my gratitude"

i couldn't think of anything to say. so i simply bowed.

he bowed back and said,"now as for your gift."

"seriously, this is more than enough gift."

"nonsense, a sword for a sword. and you took a blade through your guts for me." and with that he took off his bracelet and held it out for me.

"with this you will be able to hear any language you wanted as if it was your own and they will only hear their own language from your lips."

he must have seen the hesitation on my face because he said,"take it. you will need it if you end up somewhere other than your home world."

"are you sure you can afford to part with something like this?" i asked him. and he just laughed.

"I am a wizard, dear prince. i will simply create another one. it will take me a few days but i will have another one. this one is also indestructible."he said.

i took the bracelet form him and put it on my left wrist. it clasped shut as if it sensed it was being put on. "can you understand me now?" I asked the wizard.

"let me speak first, so that the bracelet would know the language and translate it when you speak." he replied.

"how about now?" i asked him.

"that's perfect. its strange being on this end of the spell. i normally am the one wearing the bracelet. but its nice to hear my own language from your lips even if its through a spell."

we walked to the balcony of his study. I stepped into the open air and called upon the furies as i took to the air.

"that's still a sight to behold" the wizard said smiling."remember if you find yourself in a inhospitable world. just keep going and you will skip away from it. and if you don't find your world within first 5 attempts, simply find a new home."

"I will and thank you for these wonderful gifts. farewell wizard."

"Farewell, my prince." he said and i took to the air.

when we were high enough, i asked alera,"shall we?"

she simply melted into me and we took off. when i thought we had been going fast enough for long enough, we gradually slowed. I looked around and we seemed to be in a hellish world. everything seemed to be on fire. Alera hadn't parted from me still as we agreed that we might need to do so again.

"can you feel canea?" I asked her.

"no, i cannot" she replied. well this wasn't home. so we took off again. one by one we went through 18 worlds. one all water. one where people were blue giants. one where people were surrounded by machinery. they wanted to kill us when they saw us. but we left quickly. we figured if we were going to reach home then she would feel it immediately. but every time we tried, we ended up in a different world.

on the 19th try, we came to a world that was cold. snow covered mountains to one side of us and snow covered plains to one side. i didn't even have to ask alera. "no" she said.

I was about to take off again when alera said,"I don't think i will be able to keep doing this, without my land. i will eventually perish."

"then lets get you home" i pressed.

"the more we press on like this, the faster i will disappear. I will eventually anyway without getting back to my land. but at least i should try my best to get you a home." she said."no point in both of us dying, little one."

"why are you saying this to me? it was my fault. i was the one who went too fast. not you."

"i am saying this so that you do not feel guilty if this form melts away."

"you wont. i will get us home."

"remember what the wizard said. try 5 times only. otherwise just find a world you can make a new home in. we tried 19 times. maybe you should make this place your home now. i will be with you for a while. but when i fade away, you will at least have a home. what if we keep trying and when i suddenly fade away leaving you are in an inhospitable world. like the very first one we found."

I landed on the snow. i had my head in my hands as i sighed. she was right. the wizard was right. there could be millions of worlds out there for all we know. maybe i should give up. i had already taken her away from her home. i shouldn't be the one to kill her because of my mistakes.

"little one" she asked.

"just tired, Alera" i replied truthfully.

"Rest for a while" she said. "i will keep watch."

I woke up after i do not know how long. it was still semi dark. maybe it always stayed like this in this world. i was just about to tell alera that maybe nothing lives here and we should try for a more hospitable world. then i remembered the risk i would be taking with her life. she wasn't human, sure but she was a friend still.

I was hungry. so we took to the air and flew towards the mountains. after a few hills, we saw a fire. I told alera that i would go and have a look. we agreed that her presence shouldn't be revealed to anyone unless we absolutely trusted them. the wizard was right about that. people would try to control her. so i landed far enough away from the group around the fire under my veil. then i started walking towards them after dropping my veil. if not for my firecrafting, i would be frozen to death by now. i slowly approached the group. they were very large beings. even hunched around their fires, they were as tall as me. I stood at a safe distance and cleared my throat. i had no idea what language they would speak. they noticed me and suddenly reached for their clubs and such. while shouting.

the bracelet tingled a little and i heard,"white walker? run while wun and thurn and me hold him off."

white walker? what in the hell is that? never mind. there were about 10 of them standing facing me while the others were running. some of them had young.

I quickly held up my hands and said,"I just want some food. I didn't mean to scare anyone. if i am not welcome, I will simply leave."

everything stopped. I had air crafted my voice to be a little louder. so that most would hear it over the commotion. the one who had spoken first stepped forward and said,"you speak the true tongue?"

it felt like it would be too much for him to understand the true explanation so i lied,"yes i do"

he came closer now. he must have been 12 maybe 13 feet tall and covered with hair. they all were. they reminded me of ice men of Alera. but icemen were covered in white hair. these had hair black as night.

"you are not a walker. or a wight. your eyes are white."

"no, i am not. just a man looking for some food and shelter. my name is Alric." i said.

"I am called mag the mighty. king of the giants. we can spare some food and a place by the fire." he said.

"thank you. I'd be honored to share food with you." i replied politely. i didn't want these big giants angry. i'll be able to kill them. but if i am to stay here in this world and it seemed like i might. then it wouldn't do to make an enemy of everyone. besides they seemed kind enough although intimidating. we moved over to the fires and mag bellowed,"false alarm, just a man looking for shelter and food"

"did you say a man, mag. how did a man get this far north." another one asked.

"i am from a far away land. i simply had the misfortune to come to this land this far north." i answered before mag could say anything.

"you are fortunate. and you are coming from the lands of winter. did you see any walkers or wights?" asked another as we settled around the fires.

"no", i replied as a bowl with some meats was offered to me.

one sitting across from me at the fire was eyeing me curiously. he got up and motioned for mag to join him. I did not like this. i didn't want to start my life in this world by killing the first people i came across. especially after they just offered me food. right food. i quickly wolfed it down. if everything goes to shit, at least i will have a stomach full of food. they walked a good 50 feet away. I used air crafting to listen in. he asked mag,"how do you know he is not a walker?"

"come now wun. he has white eyes instead of blue. and have you ever heard a walker speak?"

"true. but tell me this. how is he not dead when he's not even wearing any furs. no man would be able to survive this far north without furs. if he is not a walker then he could be working with them. that's why the cold doesn't bother him."

mag looked back at me and i pretended i was busy eating. soon he waved over a few more giants and they all seem to agree with wun. shit i thought to myself.

mag walked over to me and soon they had me surround with a good 50 of them around me. the others were quickly grabbing their belonging and departing.

"tell us true now. how is it that you are not wearing any furs and you are still alive?" asked mag. he seemed to be tense. they were all tense. i was tense myself. i had enough metal and air pulled into me that i could fight out of here or fly out of here. but then i reached for water and felt their emotions. even those that were fleeing. they were scared. i had to put my hand on my sword to steady myself as i reeled from how powerful their emotions were. and they reeked of fear. fear of me. they must really be afraid of these walkers. and they thought i was one of them.

"i am not your enemy. i am not a walker. i have had your food. i will not harm you or yours. you have my word." I replied.

"if you think that we will believe the word of a walker or one of their worshipers, you must think us fools." replied mag.

shit this wasn't going the way i had wanted it to. well, i can just fly out of here and leave them to themselves. they took one step towards me and i launched myself into the sky. i could have killed them but what would that accomplish. I was floating 200 feet above them. they were all staring up at me. i turned and took off south. maybe i'll go somewhere warm. i hadn't gone too far until i heard the screams. i stopped in the air. they must be a mile or two behind me now. but something pulled at me. maybe it was their fear that i had felt. these weren't predators. they were families running for their lives.

I created a lens between my hands with air crafting to have a close look. suddenly i could see them clearly. there were other people coming from behind them. the only place they will be able to run is north towards where i came to this world. the other beings seemed to be in ragged clothing and they were a mixed bunch. it seemed that they had animals as well as giants and men with them. mag and the other giants who had me surrounded came forward and the fight began. the giants were powerful. they threw the others tens of yards into the air. it seemed like mag would win this fight. but then i saw the walkers. I knew they were walkers because they had pale white hair and they seemed to be not wearing anything at all. that explained why the giants thought i was one of them. what with my white hair and fire crafting keeping me warm. one of the walkers went towards the fleeing giants. one brave giant stopped to face the walker so the others could flee. i truly never thought the walker would win. the giant was twice his size. the giant swung the big wooden club he had at the walker. but it shattered to pieces as it came into contact with the walker's sword. before the giant could react the walker put his sword through its leg. the giant fell hard to the ground. the bastard of all things was that the walker didn't finish him off. instead it walked around him as if he had all the time in the world and went after their families. I broke the crafting and started moving towards the fight.

As i was flying, Alera suddenly appeared next to me.

"they just tried to kill you. or have you forgotten?" she asked me.

"they thought i was one of these creators. you didn't feel their fear like i did. they were scared for their families. i would have done the same if i was in their place." i replied back without slowing down.

"I see. if you are not going to stop then maybe i should assist you." she offered. but i turned her down. no need to over do it, i thought. "let me try first. keep watch from above. i will call you if i need you."

Walker was headed for a small giant that had fallen behind the rest of the group. he was human size. a child i thought. I put on more speed. As the walker swung down to chop the giants head off, i landed behind the giant. my sword already in my hand. i intercepted the walkers blade mere inches from the giant.

"killing children? have you no honor?" i asked. usually i like to insult and provoke those i fight. i just cannot help it. its like my mouth is an independent entity. it just doesn't check with my brain sometimes before speaking. but i was actually angry now. the walker looked surprised. i stepped over the giant and swung my sword around to strike down on his shoulders. he brought his sword up but reeled from my blow. he wasn't particularly skilled. in 3 blows i took his head off his shoulders. the darnedest thing happened when i did that. when my sword made contact with his head, instead of his head rolling off like it should have. he shattered into tiny specks of ice. it took me by shock. but i quickly gathered my bearings and went over to assist the other giants. when i joined the fight, i could see why they were so terrified of these beings. they were fighting what looked like walking dead men, giants and animals. there were probably over a thousand of them and exactly 5 walkers after the one i killed.

this would terrify anyone i thought. A father could be fighting the corpse of his own son. or brother or daughter. how do you kill your own loved ones? no wonder they were reeking of fear. afraid of becoming these and afraid of killing those they once knew. speculate later i said to myself. there is a fight going on. so i went to work. it wasn't all that hard i thought as i went through the dead. dancing this way and that. chopping heads and limbs off. until one of the bastard that i had chopped up in half, dragged himself up and stabbed me through my leg. i screamed and kicked him away. i pushed hard using earth and launched myself in a backward leap. i landed behind the giants. the alive ones. staring down at the blade that was in my leg. i yanked it out and thanked all the gods i was surrounded by snow. water is essential to healing. so i just pulled on the snow and healed my would before i could bleed anymore. looking around i saw the giants fighting them with fire and clubs. all of those that i had cut through were simply crawling on the ground instead of dying. it seemed only fire worked against these creatures.

that was no problem for me. but before i joined in i reached for metal and became metal. right now that i can't be back-stabbed again, i thought to myself. i firecrafted my blade and took another leap. this time forward into the middle of the dead. my right hand had my firecrafted blade and the left had a fire fury on it in the shape of the eagle. i willed the fury to take flight. and it went from one dead to another. lighting them all on fire. they swung at it but you can't stop a normal fire with that much less a firecrafting. before long i had killed more than a hundred of these. some by my blade but most by the fury. but before i could celebrate a walker stepped before me. it seemed to be eyeing me weirdly. so i just waved it over.

"come now, i don't have all day" i said.

it came gliding towards me. i hadn't really paid mind to the first one i had fought. so i really looked at this one as it walked towards me. it seemed male with pale white hair just like me. it wasn't wearing anything but its skin was covered with ice as if it was armor. maybe it was. lastly i noticed its blade. it was also made of ice. it leaped at me with a downward swing from 10 feet away. i lazily put my sword up to block him and then i punched him in the face. he fell down hard. i had been pulling on earth the entire time my feet were on the ground. a habit i had picked up from fighting the vord. 2 years of fighting with everything i had to barely survive made this feel easy. before he could stand up i shoved my sword through his skull. again he shattered into ice. but this time i noticed a lot of the dead fell down as well. huh.. so if i kill the masters their pets die too.

so i took to the air and landed before the remaining 3 walkers. before they knew, i was among them. i smashed straight into the first one i saw. both of us falling hard tangled with each other. he came out on top. as he made to stab down at me. i said,"hello lover" and pushed up with all the earth craft i could manage. he went flying off of me. i stood up laughing. i mean it was a bad situation but you have to find laughs where you can. my time on canea taught me that.

the other 2 were coming towards me now. I pulled in even more air and they seemed to slow down. i waited for them to strike at me so i wont give away my speed. the one on the left came at me with his blade again high. i stepped aside and opened him up from shoulder to groin. or i would have if he hadn't shattered into ice again. i turned around with my sword held level with my head. i came to face with the second one as his sword smashed into my blade again.

"did all of you went to the same sword master?" i asked "there are other ways to swing a sword you know" and i kicked him in the balls. or i hope so. i wasn't sure if he had balls.

either way, my earth crafted kick was bit much. he went 5 maybe 6 feet into the air and before he could land my sword went through him dead center shattering him into ice. i looked around for the 5th walker and i found him staring at me from 20 feet away. most of the dead were just lying on the ground because their masters were dead. I looked at the giants to see them making quick work of the remaining dead. so i left them to it as i walked towards the last walker.

"sorry about earlier lover. i hope i wasn't too rough." i asked him as i approached. He just stared at me for a while he started circling me with his sword at ready.

"going to show me some new moves lover?" i taunted him. making anyone angry before a fight always throws them off their game. that's how i had beaten those that were actually better at sword than me at the academy. my teacher always said my tongue was sharper than most blades. but this one i just wanted to know if he could speak at all.

it didn't turn out fruitful. he charged at me. at least he tried something new at least. i was getting bored. he tried to drive his sword straight through me. i spun on my feet and as his sword went by me, he lost his balance. he tried to recover but i was beside him now. i pushed my body into him and as he lost his balance, i grabbed his hair and yanked back hard. he was bent into an awkward position legs falling under my legs. his body was curved like a bow with me looking right down into his eyes.

"goodbye lover" i said and i drove my sword straight down his throat.


	5. Frostfangs

I realized soon that there wasn't enough satisfaction in killing these walkers. when you kill an enemy, you want to see them squirm, bleed and hurt. these bastards just shattered into ice. the last one i killed had quivered for the smallest instance when i put my sword down his throat before shattering into ice. i stood there for a moment and then i realized that it had gone eerily quite. i looked around and saw mag and other giants staring at me.

I walked over and said,"I told you i wasn't one of them"

"Aye, we can see that now. sorry about earlier but you look a little like them." mag said."we owe you our lives. thank you for coming back."

"no need for that. you fed me. its the ancient rules of hospitality. i was your guest and it was my responsibility to help you if there comes a need." i replied.

mag just nodded and soon they were gathering all the dead. I started helping them.

"these creatures can raise dead?" I asked mag.

"yes, walkers can. that's why we are moving south. we were the first watchers against them. we must warn the others now." he replied.

they started pilling the dead and i helped. after long labor, we finished and they lit them on fire. they had lost 2 of their own. all the giants stood in solemn silence. I stood beside them. After the dead turned to ash, they started tending their own. they had over a dozen injured. I thought about offering to heal. i mean they had i already seen me fly. it couldn't hurt. so i offered.

"you can do that?" mag asked with wonder.

"aye, better than most healers." i replied back with a smile.

I used earth craft to make a large tub in the ground. big enough for giants. water was plenty in the north. I had them bring all the injured to me. the worst one first. ironically the first one was wun. he was barely conscious. otherwise i don't think he would have allowed me to heal him. they lowered him into the water and i began sealing his wounds one by one. Using water crafting, i was able to feel where his injuries were. even if they were internal. every one is made of water. he had them all over the place. legs. arms. belly. but the wounds weren't particularly complicated. i quickly sealed them all. one by one i went through the giants. there were 26 in total. it didn't take me long but by the end the water had turned red. I thought to myself that we are worlds apart but we all bleed red at least.

"they need rest and food. they will back on their feet in a couple of days." i said to mag.

"we owe you our lives twice over. some of them wouldn't have survived." he said to me.

I waved a hand and soon we settled beside the fires again. I asked mag about the walkers. and he started explaining them to me the best he could. they were ancient apparently. Men, Giants and something called the Children had fought them 10000 years ago. after defeating them in the battle for the dawn, they had created a magic wall that sealed their entrance from lands of winter into the realms in the south. I asked him then why were his people here?

he sighed and said"because men have short lives and even shorter memories. what was created to bar the walkers, they thought was created to bar us and the children. so we sought refuge north of the wall. away from all their wars."

i could understand that. we talked well into the night. the walkers had become a myth over time. they had gone into lands of always winter along with their worshipers. for 10000 years they had waited and raised their dead from all the worshipers they had taken with them. apparently the night king was their leader. the creature was over 10000 years old and he could raise others like him. i sat there listening to him. in that long time, how many dead would this night king have and how many walkers? thousands? millions? i shuddered. even i wont be able to fight against that many.

"so what is the plan? run away?"I asked him.

"Aye. we must warn others, there's another giant clan in the south hills of frostfangs. then the decedents of first men. we must all stand together or we will perish. I would be glad if you traveled with us. the dead, we can fight. but we cannot fight the walkers." he said to me.

There was desperation in his voice.

"I will help you get to safety."I sincerely replied. i mean its not like I had anywhere else to go. It would haunt me if i left them now. they would most likely die. their wooden clubs were clearly no match for their ice blades.

mag seemed relieved at my answer. I didn't sleep that night. I kept watch and flew above to scan the nearby area and speak with alera. she seemed relieved that i had found some company other than her. she never said so but i just knew. during daybreak mag told the giants to get ready to travel. I saw now that there were roughly 500 of them. so through the frost fangs we traveled. it was slow travel. I could have flown out of them easily but i couldn't leave the giants. slowly we hiked through the mountains. I always flew around to make sure no danger was coming near us.

As we came more and more south, i could tell day from night more easily. and finally one day i woke up to find sun on my face. the warmth of it felt like the embrace of a loved one. we must have been travelling for over a month now. but we were still only less than half way down the frost fangs.

After 2 months of hiking through the mountains, we came upon the path between two large mountains. below looked like a valley of sorts. Mag huffed and said,"the hard travel is behind us now. valley will be easier. no more mountains." I looked skeptically at him. It still seemed like a long way to go. "make camp" I said to mag"we will spend the night here before we start down." somewhere along the travel, i noticed that i had taken command of the group. They seemed to be looking to me to tell them to what to do. mag nodded and started giving orders.

we settled around fires. food was limited in the beginning. as we gradually traveled south however more and more game was around us. every now and then i would kill an elk or a stag or two.

"Mag, I am going to look around and make sure we are alone, keep things in order while i am gone." mag nodded and i took to the air.

I knew they would be safe. I was earth crafting to make sure no one was tracking us or around us. they were alone for miles around apart for some animals here and there. so i flew a little further to the east of the mountains. I landed in a small woods in middle of the mountains. there should be some small game here i thought. but i heard nothing. I felt the earth around me and realized there was indeed some game a little far away. but it seemed i wasn't the lone hunter here. I turned metal and started walking forward under my veil. ever since that wight stabbed me, I was taking no chances. the fuckers could be sleeping right under my feet for all i knew. i went from one tree to the next looking for the game and the hunter. I came upon a scene that i still sometimes dream about. there by a small frozen creek was a giant wolf lying with its belly cut open. all around it were little cubs that were mutilated. I saw the walker that had done the fucking deed. it was carrying one pup in its hands as i saw him. before i could react it ripped the pup apart. there was only one remaining pup now. a small black little thing that was standing atop his dead mother and snarling at the walker. brave little guy i thought to myself. the pup didn't run as the walker reached for him but only snarled louder. i had had enough. i stepped out from behind the tree and said,"you lot are some sick fucks. and I have eaten vord."

the walker seemed surprise to find me there. but it drew its sword and came at me. i could see the arrogance in its stride. maybe it thought that nobody was a match for its ice sword. was he going to surprised, i thought to myself. i drew my sword but it was stuck. damn frost i thought. i pulled on earth and yanked it free just as the walker got to me. i blocked just as it swung at my head. I was right. walker was surprise when my sword stopped his. i guess they didn't know about me yet. no one had escaped our first encounter to report back after all. before it could recover, i kicked at its legs. he fell face first right before my feet. with a lazy swing of my sword through its neck, i shattered him. I looked around and felt around with earth, air and wood. but me and the pup were the only ones here. I sheathed my sword and walked over to the pup.

He was pining at his mother and family. all alone i thought just like me. he must have sensed me because he turned around and looked at me. I felt myself being pulled into his eyes as if i was drowning. I felt his heartbeat match my own as i felt i was being drawn into him. It took my breath away. i suddenly fell onto my ass. Most marat are bonded when they are 11 or 12. I was over 16 now. i was starting to think that it wouldn't happen to me because i was only half marat.

when i finally gained my breath again, i looked around me. still alone. the pup was licking my fingers now. i picked him up. "we are brothers now. you and me. looks like I'll be wolf clan." i said to the pup. He didn't understand me but i could feel his emotions through my marat bond. He felt alone.

"I will put your family to rest little brother." I said. I stood up and put the remains of his brothers and sisters on his mother. then i called on fire and burnt them all. better ash than being raised as dead soldiers. suddenly i didn't feel like hunting. it might be the pup's emotions clouding my own. the marat bond was strong. he would affect my abilities and i would affect his. I decided to hunt anyway because i would need some food as well as the pup. I found some deer a few miles south of there. Finally, I headed back to camp.

most of them were sleeping when i got back. only mag and some sentries were awake. I landed in the middle. Throwing the deer off my shoulders, i put the pup down on the ground.

"where did you find the direwolf?" mag asked as he walked up to me.

"I was hunting and i found this one's entire family slaughtered by a walker. I rescued this one. and now here we are." i answered him. "this one's mother was pretty large. do they normally grow that big?"

"Aye they do. direwolves are bigger than regular wolves. more than twice as big."

"the walker had ripped his family apart even the pups. why would he do that? I mean a clean kill makes for better dead soldiers right?"

Mag's eyes seemed to narrow as he grumbled,"they hate direwolves because they remind them of Brandon the Builder. He was the one who defeated the walker alongside Azor Ahai. He was a warg and was bonded with a direwolf he called shadow."

"Brandon the Builder? you never told me about him." i said as i started working on the deer. i threw some small pieces to the pup who started chewing on it quickly.

As i skinned and cooked the deer, mag started telling me about Brandon the Builder. "He was a great king of the first men. when the men came to our lands they warred with us and hunted us. but when the threat of the walkers seemed to be overwhelming, he convinced all the other men to put away their problems and unite against the walkers alongside giants and children. him and azor fought bravely alongside us. and we prevailed in the battle for dawn. But they knew that walkers would return one day. So Brandon rallied the giants and men together once more to build the great wall. the children infused each stone with their magic. the dead cannot cross the wall even by the sea. It is a magical barrier as much as a physical one. that's why he is known as Brandon the Builder."

we sat in silence for a while as i watched the fire. the pup had curled up in my lap and fallen asleep during mag's tale. I pondered all i had heard from mag and other giants. it seemed to me that the only refuge they will find is south of this wall unless these men who were north of the wall had better weapons than these giants. I was heavy in my thoughts as i started eating the deer now that it was finally cooked. As i looked at sleeping giants, i couldn't help but think that i was just at the beginning of a long journey. my head still heavy with all the trials i imagined for the giants when i fell asleep.


	6. Giants and Men

Slowly but gradually we traveled through the narrow valley of the frostfangs. It was quiet and peaceful travel even though it was long. I was starting to feel on edge because we should have encountered some walkers by now. Since i had met the giants, it must have been 7 moons or more when we finally saw some sign of more life. I was starting to wonder if anyone else lived on this world. the far away fires seem to be reassuring when finally they came into view. the giants were excited. they were after all going to their only kin.

As we approached the village of giants, i could see their huts. Mag came up to me and said,"it would be better if you walked beside me. they would not accidentally kill you."

I nodded. even though i could move faster than any giant. but it would reassure them of my friendship if they saw me walking with mag. the wolf that i had named shadow after Brandon the Builder's wolf was walking beside me. he was pitch black with red eyes. Already 3 feet tall at the shoulders, he was growing fast. maybe it was my bond with him that was affecting him so. but the giants were curious as they saw it happening before their very eyes.

He wasn't the only one changing. My vision was getting better. i could see clearer by the day in the dark. My sense of smell was getting sharper too. finally, My eyes had gone the same red as shadow. I was already expecting that since i knew what happened after the bond was sealed. but it came as a surprise to the giants. i told them about the ability of my people to bond with anyone. they seem to accept it as if it was very common. perhaps after seeing dead people walk again, this was dull surprise.

We approached the giant settlement slowly. Mag alongside me and shadow were out front. they had seen us coming and were waiting for us. one came forward and said,"Mag, you have finally returned with everyone? does it mean what i think it means?"

"Aye Wull, the walkers are moving south finally. its time." he replied.

the other giants were staring at me and shadow now. so mag said,"we wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for this man here." he looked at me and then back at the other giants,"he is Alric Frost, savior of giants."

the others simply nodded and the one who looked like was in charge said,"I thank you for returning our kin to us."

"No need to thank me over and over. We have traveled far. what we need is rest for the day and tomorrow we need to move further south. this place is not defensible. I have given mag my word that i would see your people to safety." I replied.

Wull seemed surprised that i was ordering him to uproot his people but he looked at mag who nodded. soon after he lead us to the village. I asked mag,"Frost?"

He smiled and replied, "I thought you needed a strong norther name. people would respect you more. men and giants both."

I nodded just as we approached the center of the village. some hugged and cried while other just touched their heads together. I left them to their privacy. who knows how long they have been apart. I sat alone with Shadow when Mag and Wull approached me to invite me to their meal. I obliged them.

"How many of you are there?" I asked Wull.

He seemed sad as he answered,"about a thousand strong. but once we were many."

mag seemed to nod along as well. Fifteen hundred. that was a big number but not nearly enough. Night king had waited 10000 years to make his move. he wouldn't come down with just a few thousand. you give me a month and i'll give you an unbeatable plan. but if you give me 10000 years, I would annihilate all that stood in my path. Fifteen hundred was not enough.

"Weapons?" I asked.

he pointed to his club and i sighed.

"you can't fight the walkers with those. i saw those shatter like they were made of glass. are you telling me that you don't have any steel." i said tiredly.

"us no. but the men have some steel. we must convince them to fight alongside us. they must or we all die." mag said.

I sighed. "where are the nearest men?" it seemed they were our only hope. did i just think our? Our? it scared me more than anything else. had i really made these people as my own? had i abandoned all hope of returning home? perhaps it was for the better. a sadistic voice whispered in my head. if i returned home victorious, it would only get my brother killed quicker. I shook my head clear of those thoughts.

Wull started drawing in the snow for me. "we are in the northern part of the frostfangs. south of us is valley of thenn. that is filled with men. There are thousands of them."

That sounded hopeful. If we managed to convince them to stand with us, we might just have a chance at survival. "very well, tell your people to be ready for tomorrow. we leave at dawn. I don't like the idea of walkers hounding our steps. we need time to prepare a proper defense if we are to survive."

They both nodded and went away issuing orders i assume. Wull seemed second in command for Mag while Mag was second in command for me it seemed. Night passed quickly as i slept after 3 long nights.

I woke up to find the giants were all bustling about. Wull came over and said,"we are ready. we were waiting for you to wake up."

"sorry, i hadn't slept in 3 days. someone should have woken me up." i said.

"we were going to but mag said to leave you be. he said you needed your rest." wull said.

I smiled. yes that would be mag. he was very perceptive i thought. but then again he had to be. after all he was a king. Soon after we started travelling south. As we reached the final rise, wull said,"the valley of Thenn." I looked into the open wide valley. I crafted an air lens to have a closer look. I could see some huts and such far away. scattered here and there in the valley but i couldn't see any people. hmmm. maybe these were abandoned and they had moved further south. only one way to go from here i guess.

so we descended into the valley. After 7 days, we approached what looked like a man's village. huts were smaller than giant's huts. but it was all abandoned. I looked around and saw that their belongings were still there. they had left in a hurry. I could only think of one thing that would make them want to do so. I voiced my concerns to the giants. and they seemed disturbed by that. how could the walkers get past them without them knowing?

"From what mag told me, last time the night king lost because men, giants and children were all united against him. If i am not wrong, he is trying to do his best to make sure that doesn't happen again. giants are powerful. men are plenty. children have magic. three ingredients that if put together would defeat him. that's why he went after everyone at the same time but in different locations."

all the giants had gotten quiet. "there's only one way to do this. we travel light and fast. we catch up to the thenn and thwart whatever the night king has planned. ditch everything you can. this is going to be an all out war i think."

The giants although less in numbers were a hardy people. they took it all in a stride and started preparing. before long we were travelling at 3 times the speed that we were before. Earlier i thought the walkers were all behind us and as long as we keep staying ahead of them, we will reach safety. but now that we knew the walkers were ahead of us as well, the giants seemed more determined. they knew they would be surrounded if they didn't siege the moment to escape. so hard and fast we traveled.

It would have taken us over a month to travel the length of the valley before. but now we did it in 12 days. small rests here and there but we were always on the move. i had flown ahead to see what awaited us. I saw the thenn. all bald headed men and women and children preparing at the southern mouth of the valley to meet the dead. it was a good position. it was high ground and narrow passage of about 500 meters across. I saw the number of men there. there must be 150 thousands of them there. but they seemed ill equipped i saw. they would put up a good fight but ultimately they were doomed. because i saw the dead too. there must be twice as many dead as the thenn. and they will keep adding more numbers as they kill the thenn. I flew back to the giants and told them what i saw. they were grim faced but even more determined now.

the walkers had made one foolish mistake. they were travelling as if they had all the time in the world. But if they had been smart, they should have pushed hard. i mean its not like they needed to feed their army or rest. had they done so? they would have killed almost all the living beings north of the wall by now. but they were taking their time. which proved a wonderful gift for us. after a hard day of marching, we could see the army of the dead before us. we needed to get to the thenn. together we may stand a chance. there were too many walkers for me to kill and too many dead. I could kill them but it would be too late for the thenn and for the giants. more than 300 thousand dead were in between the two allies. but perhaps it was a gift. I flew up and called for alera. In a moment she was there.

"Can you veil all of the giants?" i asked her and she nodded.

"good, then i want you to remain invisible and i would pretend that its me doing the veiling." i said to her.

"Sooner or later, you will get yourself killed if you keep pushing your luck," she said but she was smiling.

"we outwitted the vord queen together. these idiots are not even on the same level." i replied with a smile and down i flew. I told my plan to the giants. some were skeptical but i told them that it would work. so i looked up as if concentrating and Alera veiled us. under cover, we went up the side of the valley to where i wanted to be. I wanted to do some damage before we joined alongside the thenn. besides there was no way to get to the thenn without going through the dead. I would have crushed the walkers hard if the giants had been better equipped and there were a few more of them. but sadly they were not. i found a side of their army where the least amount of walkers were. as the thenn were desperately trying to defend their position, I flew 20 feet into the air. I addressed the giants. the air crafting would make sure none outside hear me.

"this is the moment. this is where our actions would make the difference. Unless we can cross through these dead to the thenn. we are dead. think of your loved ones and your children. if you want them to live or not become one of these dead soldiers, you will fight the hardest you ever have. if your limbs are chopped off, keep fighting and keep moving. get others to the safety. if you get killed, you will die a hero. if you live, they will sing your songs until time stops. To victory"

"To Victory" they all roared. then I signaled for Alera to drop the veil.

All hell broke loose as 1500 giants suddenly charged into the flank of the dead. walkers seemed surprised at first but they quickly started recovering from the shock. the thenn got themselves back together as the pressure on them released a little. the giants never stopped though. true to their word, they kept slaughtering through the dead when the walkers were confused. But as the dead started charging towards the giants, I launched myself into the sky. Time to go to war i thought. the giants will not make it to the thenn even now unless i distracted the walkers. there must be a thousand of them scattered through out the army. I pulled on metal and became metal as i went for the closest one. I didn't toy around this time. I went fast and hard. before the walker could register me, I shattered him. I went for the next then the next after that. one by one i went through over 20 of them. But even as the dead were dropping along with their masters, there were too many of them. I could feel shadow tearing through the dead and making for the thenn along with the giants. the giants had made great progress but now they were slowing down.

As I was cutting through another walker, I could feel shadow's desperation. the Thenn were fighting desperately as were the giants who had come to a stop with a wall of the dead stopping them. I was getting desperate myself. oh i could fight for weeks if need be. but giants would be dead within moments. I turned and burned more of the dead with fire craft. but more still came on. I took to the air again. I could see a cluster of walkers not far off. they were staring at me with those icy blue eyes. I reached for all the fire i had and hurled it at them. the lightening flash that descended on them left nothing of those walkers behind. I had killed 7 walkers in one strike but still we were loosing. I looked at the giants and so many of them lay dead. and then i saw what made me more angry than anything else. A walker looked right at me as it raised his hands. and all the dead giants stood up. their eyes blue like the walkers and started fighting their own brothers.

I hovered over the battle trying desperately to think of something. I called on earth and my furies took shape beneath me. there were close to 50 of them. all in the shapes of lions and wolves and such. i willed them to charge at the dead and they did so. wreaking havoc everywhere they went. still we were loosing.

I could fight with metal myself but there was nothing i could do for the others. there was not enough wood near by to do anything either. I had fire but not nearly enough of it to burn them all. I couldn't do anything with air either. And water, what would i do with water, heal them?

I looked around in desperation as i felt shadow get stabbed. I hurried over to him and killed the nearby dead by lighting them on fire with blade and fury. I knelt next to him and quickly drew on the snow and healed him. He was a part of me and i had felt that blade as if it had been sunk into me. As i stared at shadow, something occurred to me. Water crafting wasn't just about healing. it could be used to sense other's emotions. and that's what i needed. the raw emotions of those desperate giants and men around me. you see fire craft is all about passion. the more passionate the person is the stronger their fire crafting will be.

So I jumped into air again. i reached with water around me and suddenly i could feel the overwhelming desperation and fear and anger all around me. It felt like an ocean of emotion. if it hadn't been for my metal crafting, i would have fainted just because of how powerful their wave of emotions was. i created the biggest fire crafting i could manage and launched it in middle of the dead. they caught fire right away. and then i pulled on all the emotions around me and fed the fire with it. manipulated it. fed it more energy. before i knew it. i had a fire across 100 meters. thousands of dead were ash now. then i reached for the air and moved and spread fire further along. Right before my eyes the army of the dead burned to ash in mere moments. but the crafting was too much for me to handle. my blade slipped from my hand, and I fell to the ground.


	7. King beyond the wall

I came awake inside a tent. I looked around the tent and found that i was alone. there wasn't much inside the tent except for the bed i was in and a chair. soon after a woman entered the tent. she stopped short when she saw that i was awake. "Are you a god?" she asked me.

"what no. just a man" i said.

"no man can fly or do half the things i saw you do" she said with conviction.

"yes they can. where i am from they can" i replied as i sat back.

"do you have any water?" i asked her and she quickly gave me a bowl of water from beside my bed. i thanked her and asked her where i was.

"In the camp of the freefolk" she replied. i let that sink in.

"thenn you mean?" i asked her again.

"yes and some other tribes as well" she said.

hmm so there were more than thenn in that battle. interesting. its as if they all knew that walkers were coming. they had pooled their strength together. smart.

I got up and started putting my clothes together.

"I am Alric Frost. what is your name?" i asked her. i thought i should stick with mag's idea. perhaps a northern name will make them accept me easier.

"Val" she said.

"you are beautiful, my lady" I said truthfully. she was quite mesmerizing. she was tall with blonde hair. I know these were rough people in a rough land. but she looked just as if not better than some noble ladies of Alera. she blushed prettily when i said that.

"could you show me to the giants? i need to speak with them." i said.

"two of them are waiting right outside this tent. they wont let anyone in except me. mag is waiting with our king. they have been waiting for you to wake up. i can lead you there" she replied. i nodded when i was ready and together we left to meet her king. this tent was larger by far than the one i was in. fit for a king i mused to myself. she nodded at the guards on the door and went in first. i followed her in. sitting before me were a random sort of men and one giant.

"Mag" I said.

"Frost" he replied."We were just waiting for you to wake up. As our leader, only you can treat with the king of the freefolk."

so, there it was. officially recognized as leader of the giants.

a man with a shaggy beard looked at me and asked," we don't need your kind here. take your giants and leave us be." I ignored him.

"how many giants did we loose." i asked mag.

"323" he replied.

"too many" i said "but i promised to get you to safety and i will." i looked at the one who had spoken to me and asked,"where is my sword?"

"that's our sword now. we took it of battlefield. quite handy in killing walkers." he replied. i was already suspecting they will do something like that. so i grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground with earth craft. everyone got tense and then i threw him 10 feet away. I looked around at the men in the room. one by one i met their eyes until i met one who looked like he was trying too hard to seem unimportant. he wasn't much older than myself. all of them had fine clothing on in very barbaric sort of way. one was wearing a lot of bones. the other had two axes. then there was the one i had thrown down. one was a tall man with bald head and a big ax in his hands. the last one was wearing faded blacks. a cloak that looked patched up in 10 different places and intelligent eyes. he was the leader. he was the only one who hadn't reacted to my little display. he was just observing and he clearly did not feel like he had to show off his weapons or kills. everybody already knew who he was and he was respected. oh he was the leader.

"so you are the king" i asked him.

he seemed surprised at that and told the angry one to stay away with a wave of his hand.

"not many would have figured that one out. but the bigger question is who are you or more importantly what are you?"

"my name is alric frost. i am from a far away land. I made a promise to get the giants to safety and right now you are standing in my way of doing that."

"you are telling the truth aren't you?" he said with a curious look in his eyes.

i nodded and after a while he nodded back. then he walked over to the corner of the tent and took my sword out from under some covers. he handed it to me and i thanked him.

"That is a very pretty and powerful sword. many would kill for something like that." he said.

"they are welcome to try and take it from me."

he just smiled and said "my name is Mance Rayder and i must thank you for saving the lives of everyone in this camp."

"you have a unique way of showing gratitude. stealing my sword and threatening me."

"we are not southerners. we are of the north and free-folk respect strength beyond anything else."

"Like i said, i need to get the giants to safety. so i don't have time for games. if you want to say something then say it. I'll be leaving with the giants tomorrow."

he started speaking as i said,"Val, can you get something to Shadow. he is my direwolf. he is hungry now." Val looked at mance who nodded and she left.

After a long silence, mance said,"how would you get south of the wall? that's the only place that is safe from walkers."

"i haven't thought it out. but i thought i would try negotiating with whoever is in charge and if that didn't work, i would simply force myself through."

"you could certainly force yourself through from what i saw you do yesterday. but what would you do when the men keep attacking you. there's thousands of them."

"I am harder to defeat than most. I will think of something."

"lets not play this game. we need you and you need us. with our numbers and your abilities, we can easily take the wall. and if everything failed, we can always use this."

and the bald man stepped aside to reveal a five foot tall horn.

"blow that all night so they can't sleep?" i asked.

"its the horn of joramun. it can destroy the wall."

I looked at him as if he was joking. "if you destroy the wall, there will be nothing stopping them. the wall needs to remain standing if that's what stops them from crossing over."

"I agree but the night's watch will not let us cross over. trust me i know, i used to be one of them."

I pondered it for a while and said,"either way we must try to negotiate with them before we started killing each other. besides like you said. even if we make it south of the wall, they will keep attacking us."

"if we must negotiate then we must negotiate with the starks not night's watch. if they allow us south, then nobody will attack us even if they are not happy about it."

"who are the starks?" i asked him. he looked at me as if i was an idiot.

"Starks were kings in the north once. now they are wardens of the north. Lord Rickard Stark is the lord of winterfell and warden of the north. if he allows us south then nobody could do anything about it."

"wouldn't it be better to go straight to the king."

"we could but north doesn't care much about the king or the south. but they respect the starks. besides it was Brandon Stark who built the wall. so its their authority that matters."

"Brandon the builder was a stark? and his descendant is the one leading the north?" I asked.

"yes, he was and yes, he is" mance replied.

"I must think about this" i said. and we sat in silence while others chatted. I simply didn't know enough about this situation to provide a solution. i mean if the men were fighting the giants i could understand but why were they fighting other men. unless there was some dispute amongst them. I asked mance as much. he sighed and said that free-folk have rough land to live upon. so often they raided south to find more game or wives.

right. that explains it.

"if we are going to be allowed south of the wall, they will need to stop doing that. or else they stay on this side of the wall and fight until death."

"we already know that. the freefolk are desperate. they will agree but the problem is the south wont believe us even if we told them about the walkers." mance said.

"what if we took proof? like a head of a wight that still moved."

"it would work, i guess." he agreed begrudgingly.

"but if we are to be represented together then we need to work as one people. there is strength in numbers of course. but i think we need to move fast. because the night king is not going to wait for our squabbles."

"I would yield my right as king of the freefolk to you. they saw you yesterday. they saw what you can do. i have spoken with styr here and he agrees. if thenn can follow you then so can the rest."

this just keeps getting better and better. first the giants and now the men. all i needed was the children to show up and call me their king. then i will have the whole set. But we need to be united and i can use what they saw me doing yesterday. it would make them accept me as their king.

"do all of them want me as their king?" i said eyeing the one i thrown across the tent.

"aye they do. they all owe you their lives and i don't think i can save them. not after what i saw yesterday. if they come at us again, we will need you at our side."

"very well. tell everyone that we will break camp in the morning and head south. do you have a proper map that i could look at."

"no but i know the north very well. i can draw one for you easily."

well it was better than nothing. mance slowly showed me that there is the wall. and we were slightly to the west of it. there was a big forest known as the haunted forrest which was the last cover before the wall. to the far side there was hardhome. some 50 thousand or so freefolk were scattered from hardhome to the haunted forrest in small villages. if i was going to save them then i was going to save them all i thought.

"how many do we have in this camp?" I asked mance.

"over a hundred thousand. we lost nearly half that in yesterday's battle"

damn it. if one more battle like that took place, they would all die. barely one in 5 had a decent blade. even then from what i heard that steal was no use against the walkers.

one thing at a time. I went outside and crafted a tub that i filled with water. stepping into it, i reached into the frostfangs that we had come from and saw no dead. then i reached farther to where we had come from and saw them coming from lands of always winter. as far as i could see in every direction. there were too many of them. i broke the crafting and told mance and styr what i saw.

"we have one moon to get south of the wall or we are good as dead." they nodded grimly. there is two types of watercrafting. one is where you reach for a single target and the other where you project yourself from every body of water and pool there is. the second is good to issue a general alarm or a command. I tried the second one now. I reached far and wide. from the thenn valley to hard home. i projected myself everywhere.

"My name is Alric Frost. King of the freefolk and the giants. the walkers are coming south from lands of always winter. and the dead are coming with them. we are going south of the wall. I have over a thousand giants with me along with the thenn and other freefolk over 100 thousand strong. if you hear this message, then make for the southern border of the haunted forest. we will cross the wall at Castle Black. beware you have been warned. if you remain north of the wall, you will receive worse than death."

with that i broke the crafting. i looked at mance and styr staring at me as if i was a ghost. "everyone can do that where i am from" i said as i passed them into the tent.

"I will leave mance and mag in charge. i want you to travel fast and hard. make for haunted forest near castle black. it is central to everyone. we will not wait for anyone once we are crossing. anyone who chooses to stay on this side will have to fend for themselves."

"where are you going?" mance asked.

"i am going north to find some proof for lord stark" i said smiling.


	8. The Lone Weirwood

One by one the tribes of freefolk pledged their lives to me. I declared Mance as my second in command for the freefolk and mag for the giants. As we sat in the tent, I asked mance,"whatever happened to the children? have they all died?"

"maybe, no one has seen one in centuries." he replied. I pondered that for a while. the battle with the dead will have to be fought at the wall. it was the clear choice. but it was the children who had infused it with their magic. without them, would the magic fade away? I did not voice my concerns to any of the others. i did not want to take their hope away. we ate and planned for their travel south for the rest of the day.

"you cannot attack the wall. the best solution is if we can cross it peacefully. or we will escape one war only to throw our people into another. so hold tight inside the forest and if you come into contact with night's watch, be truthful. but do not attack them. save to defend yourself." I told all that were present. I could tell that they didn't like the night's watch. probably for good reason too. but they would have to get past that. my father used the vord to build an alliance with marat, icemen and Canim. I would follow his example. Freefolk would be a lot more cooperative with the walker's swords hanging on their necks.

Soon I dismissed everyone from the tent. when i was alone, i called for Alera. she was there in an instance. "you seem a little more transparent than before" I told her.

"I told you I would eventually fade away without my land." she said "but i still have some time left. another year maybe little more than that."

I was sad to hear that. "Maybe we can do something to save you. there must be a way." I said as i started pacing. she just smiled,"you already have enough problems without me adding to it."

"No, you are not a problem. you are a friend. and i don't abandon my friends."

"that's touching but you need not worry about me for now. you have more pressing matters. these people would die without you. Get them south of the wall then you can worry about me."

I nodded. as much as i hated her self disregard, she was right. prioritize your problems. I sighed.

"do you know if there are any walkers, in the haunted forest? or anywhere south from here on?"

"lets find out together, shall we?"

so we watercrafted together. I was stronger than even most alerans since she gifted me more furies. but even then the north was a vast place and i was unfamiliar with it. we made craftings in different parts of the forest. It seemed deserted other than some animals. freefolk and giants would have safe travel from here on i thought. I reached all the way to Hardhome and found that people were packing their belongings. at least most of them were. that was good to see. they had heeded my warning.

Now all i needed to do was find some small number of walkers or the dead. Easy pickings if you will. quick kill and i will have my proof. as i crafted north, I found such a party. 5 walkers were standing around a small rise looking over a single tree. the tree had a face carved into it. It looked frozen but alive somehow. there wasn't any other trees near by. the haunted forest was few miles south from there. It was like they were keeping watch on the tree. that was weird. I would have to ask mance or mag about that. I broke the crafting and alera parted from me.

"At least i know where to go to find them now. but it will still be a long journey." i said to alera.

"You better rest then." and with that she faded away. she was right. i should get some sleep before tomorrow. I was drinking some water before bed when i heard someone enter the tent. It was val. she seemed a little nervous.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my people." she said. and before i could reply, she took off her cloak and started walking towards me. my mouth had gone dry. that should tell you all you need to know about how i felt. my mouth never shut up but as she walked towards me i couldn't find a single thing to say. turns out i didn't need to. she just pushed me to bed and straddled me. as she pressed her lips to mine, everything slipped out of my mind. to hell with sleep i thought.

I woke up with her body tangled with mine. I slowly slipped out from under the covers and started dressing. good thing i did too. because not too long after mance arrived. he smiled as he eyed the sleeping beauty.

"I'll wait outside" he said.

i just nodded. i looked over and saw val was awake too. she didn't seem to care that she was naked at all. she just got up and started putting her clothes back on. she put her trousers and boots on. then she turned to me and held up her top. oh right. shit. i had ripped that thing off of her. i smiled sheepishly as i said,"sorry about that"

she just laughed and said,"don't worry my king. i have other clothes and i can sew this back together."

Once she was dressed, she kissed me and said,"I will leave you to your kingly duties now."

mance must have been waiting outside. because he walked in as soon as she left. mag followed soon after.

"she is a beautiful woman." he said.

"i know" i replied. shaking my head, I focused on the day ahead. "I was watercrafting myself yesterday after you left. there was no sign of any walkers or the dead south of here. i am fairly sure you will have safe travels from here on. but keep sentries out just in case."

"that's useful. but how sure are you of this?" mance asked.

"as sure as i can be. that's why i said keep sentries out." i replied curtly.

"i meant no offense. we have never heard of such things before." he said.

i sighed,"I know. but its too complicated to explain so you will just have to take my word for it"

he just nodded. I asked them both about the tree with a face on it from my crafting. mag and mance shared a look with each other before mag rumbled,"weirwood"

I just looked at them before they explained what a weirwood tree was. it was their religion. they worshiped the old gods. the symbol of the old gods was the weirwood tree. a religion passed down from the children to giants and men. hmm. could it be that tree had some godly power. there had to be a reason why the walkers had it under watch. I guess i will find out soon enough.

"everyone ready to break camp?" I asked them both.

"Aye we are. we will reach the meeting point in less than one moon. are you sure you will be able to meet us there. if you get killed, how would we know."

"you will find out if i died. I made sure of that." and i had. me and alera had agreed that should i perish, she would reveal herself to only mag or wull with the news of my fate.

"If i die, you must lead them to safety mance." i told him.

he just nodded.

"I must be off now. i have a lot of ground to cover." i said as i walked outside. the freefolk were indeed ready to leave. mine was the only tent still standing. I walked over to where shadow was. I scratched him behind his ears as i told him through my link that i was leaving for a short time. he didn't seem to like it but he understood. I took to the air and hovered at about 100 feet. I saw them all look up at me. "I will meet you there." i said as i air-crafted my voice to everyone. but i was looking at val when i said that. "safe travels", and with that i took off north east.

I reached the northern edge of the haunted forest in what felt like the afternoon. it was hard to tell with sun not being as bright as it should this far north. I slowed down when the trees ended. I should be there almost. i veiled myself as i flew forward. I crafted a lens to look around from above. because to the naked eye, it all seemed white with snow. I spotted them maybe 2 miles ahead of me. tree was completely white. completely blended in with snow. but i spotted some of the dead. I flew up to them under my veil. i surveyed the whole scene. one tree covered with ravens. maybe a thousand or so dead and five walkers on their dead horses. this looked like a siege. but who was under siege? i flew around in a circle around the tree. there was an opening on one side of the tree. it looked like an underground cave. hmm. so it wasn't the gods. maybe the children? only one way to find out. but should i find out? they were clearly powerful enough to keep the walkers out. maybe indefinitely. oh well. one thing at a time. i needed proof for lord stark. I flew a wide circle around the tree. maybe 10 miles or so out. there were no other walkers or dead within the area. my guess had been right. the night king sent some forces in advance. small armies that could travel faster than the main army. one for the giants. one for the men. and if i am not wrong, this one for the children.

I picked one walker at random since they were all spread out around the tree. He never saw me coming. He shattered and some of the dead collapsed along with their master. Now the other four were alert. but i had flown back up under my veil. they were looking around in confusion. i found one far away from others and landed right on top of him as i dropped my veil. before he could react, I shattered him as well. more dead dropped. the remaining dead charged at me. but i wasn't interested in the dead. I waited until they were close enough and leaped over them. I landed behind them. near the walkers. they seemed surprised. before they could react, i charged forward and cut through two of them. they shattered as their horses collapsed.

I turned around to see the last walker charging at me with his horse. It would have worked again freefolk but i was half aleran and half marat. I pulled air and earth into me. I stepped under his swing and cut through both of the rear legs of the horse. he came crashing down hard. the dead were almost at me now but i took a small leap and landed on the back of the walker with my sword stabbing right through him. I looked around and saw that all the dead had fallen down too. all except one. hmm. maybe this one wasn't created by these. i waited for it to charge at me. I took his arm off then his head. I surveyed the scene. it was quite now. i felt around with earth and felt no activity for miles around. but as i had done so, i felt activity under the tree. there was someone in there. I picked up the head of the last wight. it was still staring at me with blue eyes. "you and I have an appointment with lord stark" i said to him. he hissed at me. charming. then i crafted a fire fury and willed it to the dead. one by one they all caught fire. when all that remained was ash, I turned my attention to the tree. All the ravens atop it were looking at me with more intelligence than they should be. sentries i thought.

I slowly approached the opening at the tree.

"My name is Alric Frost. I am the king of the giants and the free-folk. I mean you no harm. I know you are in there. come forward so that i may speak with you."

I waited and waited. I didn't want to force myself in there. if they could keep the walkers out then maybe they could keep me out as well. or hurt me or kill me. I was starting to think no one was coming when i saw some of the shadows in the cave move. A small female walked to the mouth of the cave. or at least that was my first impression. she must have been three and a half feet tall. her eyes were slanted and her skin looked like mud. I peered closer. no she was covered in tattoos. Children I thought.

I did a small bow. "I am not your enemy. I am taking all the free-folk and the giants south of the wall. you can come with us if you like"

"we know who you are. we know why you are here" she replied. "you have been summoned inside by the three eyed raven" with that she turned around and started walking back into the cave. I quickly followed. I was apprehensive when i reached the cave opening. she saw me hesitate and said,"its only barred against the dead. not the living." I relaxed and walked in. a moment too late i realized the head of the wight I was carrying with me. It touched the barrier as i walked in and caught fire. shit. I thought and threw it out the cave. but the damage was done now. It was already half burnt. damn it. i would have to find more wights. I sighed and walked deeper into the cave. nothing to be done now. i will think of something else. deeper and deeper we walked. I felt the earth around me. we were hundred feet or so beneath the tree. we turned another corner and came into a large opening. it was a massive chamber. i could see children all around me.

"welcome to our last refuge" I looked up to see an old man sitting on a wooden throne.


	9. Three Eyed Raven

I walked to the middle of the chamber. the old man looked frail. he must be a hundred years old.

"I am the three eyed raven", he said as if he was introducing himself.

"that's a terrible name. who names their child three eyed raven?" i said to him.

he smiled and replied,"my parents named me brynden. but all those that knew me by that name are dead now. here i am known as three eyed raven."

a title i thought. "my name is Alric Frost. I am taking the freefolk and the giants south of the wall. you are welcome to join us." i told him.

"we know that already. but i am afraid i am too old to leave here now. the children might want to come with you but they will not have a human king."

"I never asked to be a king of anyone. all i want is some peace and quiet but it seems i would get anything but that. if you know who i am and what i am doing then you must know about the army of the dead. they may not be able to enter here but they will burn the tree to the ground. will you be safe after that?"

everyone had gone quiet after my statement. "I saw you kill the army of the dead in the valley of thenn. I also saw you kill those outside our cave. but even you wont be able to defeat the army of the dead single handed."

"I know that. why do you think i am taking everyone south of the wall? Everyone that dies on this side of the wall will become another soldier for them. we must move south."

"what if the children leave from here and you can not get them south of the wall. there will be nothing between them and the army of the dead then."

"It could happen. but by staying here, you will die for certain. by going south there is a small chance that you may actually survive this."

I turned to the children and said,"you created the wall. you all deserve to be protected by it as well. if the starks have forgotten this then i will remind them. I promise you that i will get you to safety or i will die trying. there nothing more that i can offer you."

the one who had brought me in came forward. "we must discuss this with everyone. you may stay here for now. you will get your answer in the morning."

the army of the dead was not anywhere near here yet. i could wait for a day i thought. I spoke with the three eyed raven. trying to learn all about the wall. Thank the furies, the magic of the wall was not tied to the children. it would hold without them too. I also learned that the wight head i had been planning to take to lord stark would not work. no dead can cross the wall. so there goes that plan.

Brynden Rivers was a learned man. He could also look through animals and trees I learned. finally someone who could teach me the history of this land. so i pulled on metal to wash any tiredness from me and listened. he talked through the evening and the night. the children and the giants were the original people of this land. they lived peacefully for thousands of years until men arrived to their lands. they were hunted out of their own lands. in their desperation, they wrought a powerful magic. they captured a man and turned him into a walker. the first one. the night king. but soon their magic turned against them. for the walker started hunting them as well as the men. In the end, it was the walkers that made men, giant and children come together and forge a pact on the sacred isle. Brandon Stark was the one who had vowed that starks will always remain an ally of the children and giants. but as mag had said earlier, the lives of men are short and their memories even shorter.

With more knowledge comes more headache. It seems that men south of the wall had all forgotten about the walkers. they think they were myths. to be fair, anything can become a legend in 10,000 years. but how would i convince them that they were not mere legends but actual horrors. its not like they would come north of the wall on my invitation. I would have to figure that one out later. so i asked him about the walkers.

"mine is the only blade i have seen work against the walkers. what can kill them?"

"Valerion steel works against them. as well as dragonglass." he replied. I didn't know what each of those were. so he explained them to me. Valerion steel was a spell forged blade from the freehold of valeria. he himself was a descendent of valeria. but he didn't know how to make the steel. no one did. a little over 200 hundred swords remained in westeros he said. Westeros. so that's what this land was called. and 200 blades wont stop the army of the dead. but dragonglass was i realized their name for obsidian. I can find that i thought. all i need to do is find a volcano first. and i knew all about volcanoes.

"are there any volcanoes near by?" i asked him. I hadn't seen any but if anyone knew it would be him. I could lure the night king near the volcano with a small army as a bait and then roast him and his army.

"no. not north of the wall. there is one on dragonstone. and one on the western coast near the mountains of the north. but that hasn't been active for centuries."

He probably thought i was just planning to look for more obsidian there. no reason to change that i thought to myself. soon after i confirmed with him the location of the army of the dead. i had seen it with my watercrafting but its always good to confirm that i hadn't missed anything.

"I have found no dead or the walkers south of here. thank to you" he said with a smile.

"good good. then the children have a good chance of making it to the wall from here. if they choose to do so" I said to him.

"what is the politics of the land like?" i asked him. Politics is generally what decides the major decisions. and it would be politics that would decide if we go south peacefully or with our blades drawn.

"to understand the politics of the land, you must understand the history of 7 kingdoms" he said to me. with that he launched into the history of the 7 kingdoms: Dorne, Reach, Stormlands, Riverlands, Vale, Westerlands, and the north. even the iron islands. Each had been separately ruled by their own kings for most of history. the Andal invasion. the valerion invasion. Aegon Targaryen, Brynden's ancestor, had conquered them all and made it into one kingdom. when i asked how he managed that. he explained to me about the dragons. he must have seen the excitement on my face because he quickly added that the dragons are all dead now. damn it. That was one thing that would be quite handy to fight the army of the dead. never mind. he told me of the conquest. how each kingdom was defeated by the targaryens using their dragons. the north was an interesting place though. it was the only remaining first men kingdom. They cared little about the south. their religion was different as was their land. they were a hard people who had little time for southern politics. I seemed hopeful of the north. it seemed they were not much different from the freefolk. perhaps this might work out still.

I never realized when the day finally broke. i only realized it when the children had come to me with food. I wolfed it all down. I was starving. when i finished eating, i asked the same one that had brought me in if they had decided.

"we have. we will leave south with you. if there is a small chance of us surviving then we must seize it. but we will not bow to you or any other human. we will rule ourselves."

"I can live with that" I told her that. we shook hands then. "I still don't know what your name is?" i asked her.

"i am weaver" she replied. "2 of us will still remain here. to take care of him. he cannot be moved. but he cannot be allowed to be captured by the night king either. he would use his powers for his own advantage."

I nodded along. the best thing about the children? they pack their belongings the fastest. because they don't have much belongings. they don't care much about material things. We said our farewells and before i knew it, we were outside the cave. Ready to travel to the wall. I told weaver that i will travel some small way with them but i had to go meet lord stark. that way when they reached the wall, we will be welcomed with open gates not closed.

She explained to me that the wights will not work since the wall will not allow them to pass. but the swords of the walkers might. I quickly used earth craft and watercraft to feel through land and snow until i found one of the swords of the walkers. i grabbed it and it seemed to burn my hand. it was too cold. but i turned metal and lifted it again. now i have my proof i thought to myself. i couldn't carry it in my hand the entire way. so i took my own sword out of the sheath and put this one in it. I strapped my sword to my back. my sword wont freeze burn my clothes at least. with that we started moving south.

there were a little over 2000 of them. even though they were small, they were light on their feet. they seemed at home with the land. of course they were i thought to myself. it is their land. we traveled remarkably quickly for their size. by the nightfall we were deep inside the forest. at this pace they will reach the wall not too long after the freefolk. I went to weaver and said,"I must leave you now. there are no wights or walkers south of here. you should be safe. we are going to cross the wall in the middle at castle black. you know where that is?"

she nodded,"yes, i know where that is. we were there when they built it."

"Of course you were. that's why you belong on the other side of that wall. I will stop with the freefolk once before going south of the wall. so they know you are coming."

with that i said my farewell and flew south. I reached the freefolk in the middle of the night. I asked the sentry i found to go find mance and mag. I went to the tent while i waited for them. i didn't have to wait long.

"i have invited the children to come south of the wall. they are travelling through the haunted forest as we speak. there are roughly 2000 of them or so. i wanted to let you know so that you are not surprised."

they both just stared at me with their mouths open. it must be the sleep. "you found children?" mance asked me. "Aye, i did. and they are coming with us. now i can finally go south and treat with this lord stark. i wanted to also ask you about that mance. what kind of man is lord stark? and where is his keep?"

mance shook himself a little and asked,"you have found proof then?" i tapped the sword at my hip. he just stared at it for a while before realizing that i had asked him something.

"right the seat of house stark is Winterfell. you follow the westcoast line south of the wall you will go alongside some mountains. south of those mountains is a forest known as wolfswood. if you turn left there you will come to the only castle at the end of the wolfswood. Winterfell. as for lord stark. i know little of the man but house stark is generally considered honorable. they have ruled the north since the long night."

"well lets hope he sees some sense and allows us south of the wall or i am afraid we will simply have to invade the north." i said to them both. I ate some food as i tried to pry as much information from them as i could. i was surprised to hear mag when he said its been some time since any giants had been to winterfell. mance was even more surprised. "giants have been to winterfell?" he asked mag.

Mag laughed,"aye we have. long time ago. it was built by us, you know. us and men. it is the resting place of Azor Ahai and Brandon the builder. Also, light-bringer from what i have heard from tales of the giants."

"the flaming sword?" i asked him. mance was still staring at him.

"the sword of Azor Ahai. its a tale told around our fires since the long night. i know not if its true or not." mag replied.

"why would someone lie about something like that? it must be true. the real question is if its still there?" i said to them both. "10,000 years is a long time. wars lost and won. castles torn down and rebuilt. who knows if its even there now?"

"if it was there then it will still be there. I don't think Brandon the builder would just leave lightbringer out in the open for anyone to take." mance said.

"we don't have time to hunt for treasures. we can try solving this mystery after we have reached south of the wall" i told them. i dismissed them. After a short visit with Shadow, i took to the air again. next stop winterfell.


	10. Winterfell

Before dawn even broke, I came upon the wall. it was a sight to behold. Alera had a shieldwall that we had to fight against the icemen. but it was nothing like this. this one must be 6 or 7 hundred feet high. Covered entirely in ice. from what brynden rivers told me, it was solid stone underneath. moment of truth i thought to myself as i eye the walker's sword. I landed over the wall and the pommel of the sword broke off. damn it, i thought. then i took my scabbard and turned it upside down. all that came out was broken ice. I should be happy that the magic of the wall still worked because we will need it soon. I looked to the north and contemplated my situation. I could go back to find some other way to bring evidence south. maybe ask the children to spell it so that it may pass the wall. but that would be a long way to travel back and it may not work still.

I looked south and saw some mountains to my right. and some empty snow covered plains to the left. the wide expanse of the northern kingdom. Brynden had said that it was as big as the other six combined. but not as populated, I was willing to bet. I could see no fires anywhere. most of the land seemed uninhabited. there should be no problem to find land to settle on I thought to myself. If lord stark had half a brain, he would rather gain an ally than an enemy. I decided to go south without any evidence. I would just have to play at their politics and hope to find a peaceful solution. its not like they would come north of the wall at my invitation to see the dead.

Sun was rising now. It was a sight to behold from top of the wall. but i had darker thoughts on my mind as the sky began to lighten. I took my blade from my shoulder and put it back in the scabbard. I took off again before any of the watchers noticed me on the wall. I flew over the mountains. the ocean was to my right. As i flew over the mountains, I noticed some fires here and there. But it wasn't the fires that interested me at the moment. I found what i was looking for about half way down the mountain range. The old volcano that Brynden had mentioned. I landed right in the middle of it. it looked as dead as Brynden had told me. But just to make sure I reached with earth and fire beneath the ground. And to my surprise, I found fire. the volcano wasn't dead but it was dying. left to take its course, it would have died completely in a century or two. I thought about calling Alera but I had no time to waste. I will have to come back to this. There wasn't enough fire for me to wake the volcano by myself. even with Alera it would take me at least a day to make any progress. "I"ll see you soon love", i said to the volcano and took to the air again.

I had hope in my mind now. The volcano would be the last line of defense against the walkers if the wall failed. If we lost, i will take the walkers down with me. I shook my head. i was getting ahead of myself. There were many obstacles to overcome before it even came to that. one step at a time i reminded myself. As i was debating various ways to convince lord stark, the mountains beneath me finished and i came upon a forest. the wolfswood as mance had put it. I banked left and took off with renewed vigor. I must be nearly there now.

The towers of winterfell came into view at midday. It was a fairly large castle with a small city spread around it. Grey banners that carried a direwolf on it were snapping in the winds over the walls. I decided to land a little further away from the city. It wouldn't do to simply barge in. This way they would see me coming. I started walking towards the gates following the path leading to it.

"Who goes there?" came a response when i reached near the walls.

"Just a traveler looking to have an audience with lord stark", I replied.

"Who are you and where are you from?" asked another.

"My name is Alric Frost and I am from beyond the wall", I replied truthfully. That seems to get their attention. Suddenly the gates opened and grizzled old man came out followed by 20 or so guards.

"What would a wildling want with lord stark?" he asked eyeing me curiously.

"I am afraid that i will only speak with lord star" i said.

"If you want to meet lord stark, you will have to give up your weapons" he said stroking his beard. I was expecting that. I took off my sword and handed it to him along with my broken old sword. For a chance to bring peace and safety to all the people north of the wall, I would gladly walk in there unarmed. That was the duty of a leader. He took my blades and waved at another guard. He patted me down anyway to make sure i wasn't hiding anything on my person. he took my water pouch along with my beads from the vord nest. I tensed as he took those. He seemed to follow my eyes and took the pouches from the soldier. he inspected them and asked,"what are these? poison? I have never seen these before."

"Just a reminder of home. they are very hard to find and useful against almost any poison" I replied.

He arched an eyebrow and waved for me to follow. I fell into step behind him as the other guards followed all around us. A royal escort, I mused to myself. As we passed through the street, I saw many people coming out to stare at me. some children. some adults. they looked kind enough. they weren't all that different looking from the freefolk. only difference being they lived in houses made of stone rather than huts of freefolk. I could be at war against these people if this meeting didn't turn out well. They looked pitiful to go to war against. but then i went through another gate and came upon an open courtyard. the courtyard was filled with boys and men practicing with swords and bows. I looked around and saw they had enough steel for every man. If i went to war with these people, I would pay a hefty price in freefolk's blood. and they will keep on coming with more and more reinforcements from the southern king. I wont be able to fight a two front war. suddenly I was focused on all the arguments i had prepared in my head.

We went to what must have been their great hall for meeting the petitioners. I looked around and found too many finely dressed men. They can't all be starks i thought. some must be his lesser lords. I must have arrived at some day of importance. I looked at the man sitting in the big chair. Throne perhaps. they were kings once as mance had said. Lord Stark was a big man. Bigger than me and i was over 6 feet tall. There were others who were even bigger than him but my eyes were focused on him. The old soldier approached him and put my blades and pouches in front of him.

I felt like a prisoner awaiting judgement. No one had spoken to me yet. I felt naked without my blades. Lord stark took my old sword and pulled it out. after looking at the broken blade for a while he put the sword down on the table before him. He then reached for my sword. He started studying the scabbard and the handle before drawing the blade. Every eye seemed to follow his every movement. He said nothing and put the blade back on the table unsheathed. he checked my pouches and passed them to a man wearing a chain. The maester, as i would learn later, looked at both the pouches. the brave man actually took a sip of my water and pronounced it was just water. But he seemed confused as he came to look at the beads. He whispered,"I do not know what these are. they are not from this land that i know of" to lord stark who nodded and finally turned to me. I wasn't meant to hear the last part but i had been air crafting the entire time.

"Who are you and where are you from?" he asked.

"I am Alric Frost and i am King beyond the wall", i told him. A few started whispering at that. But you have to give lord stark his due. the man didn't even blink.

"Are you a Valerian? you have white hair like them", he said.

"I am not a Valerian. I don't even know who those are." i told him truthfully.

He stared at me from head to toe. "You don't look like a wildling. You are too finely dressed for them. And this is a blade most nobles would kill for. but it is no steel i recognize. so I will ask you again. Where are you from?"

I had anticipated this question. of all the answers i had come up with would lead to more questions. so i said,"I am from a far away land and I simply had the misfortune to come to this land in the far north"

He chewed on that for a while. "You are a young man. yet you say that you are king beyond the wall. how did the wildlings let you be their king?" he asked.

I had also anticipated this question. I couldn't tell him about the walkers since i had no proof. And they will simply look at me like a madman if i did without any proof. That would downgrade my position when it came to negotiate a pass through the wall.

"Its a long story but i earned it", I said to him. He nodded after a while. he looked at he blade and then at me.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

"A passage south of the wall", i told him. I had barely finished when people started shouting.

the maester was yelling,"my lords, my lords" but no one paid him any mind. all the while others were shouting at me or demanding my head, lord stark just stared at me. I smiled back at him. we both knew it would come to this.

He smashed his hand on the table and the room suddenly got quiet.

"There is too much blood between us. my lords will revolt against me if i allowed that Frost. and why do you want to come south now? the wildlings have no love for us" he said to me.

"the far north is a harsh land. its getting harder and harder to survive there. a lot of the young die before they are even one year old. so i convinced them that we should move south" I told him. It was true enough.

Another man came forward and said,"my lord, the wildlings are worse than animals. we cannot allow them south of the wall."

"Aye, we have buried too many of our people because of them. they should remain north of the wall where they belong" said a tall woman with an ax in her hand. All i could think was that Styr would like her. Then the maester spoke and shut everyone up.

"Not to mention that Starks are not kings of the north anymore. You would need permission from the iron throne. And what would you say to the night's watch. they have fought against wildlings for more than a millennia."

I noticed how everyone glared at the maester as he reminded them that they were no longer kings. Brynden had told me that north had no love for the south. they despised their politics and their games. I internally thanked the maester. whether he knew or not, he had done me a big favor.

"You seem to be under the illusion that if you deny us entry, we would simply walk back north. I have over 150,000 men. over a thousand giants. and over 2000 children of the forest. We are coming south one way or another. You can either gain an ally or we can have a war. I would rather live with people than kill them but don't think that i wont go to war if denied." I paused for a moment to let that sink in. before anyone could speak, I continued,"I came here because i wanted to give you a chance. If we go to war, you would only have to think back on this day. you had a chance for peace and you squandered it. the children tell me that they helped built the wall and this castle along with the giants. And in return, Brandon had sworn that his line will always stand to protect the giants and the children. I came here to see if his descendants would honor their side of the pact. if not, war it will be."

A long silence followed after i had finished. A big giant of a man finally broke the silence by saying,"You think you can threaten us in our own lord's home? you may have the number wildling but you don't have the weapons. I have fought many wildlings. barely one in five has a proper weapon. even then its poor steel. you have no heavy horse. We will slaughter you if you so much as took one step south of the wall."

Another silence followed his speech as few nodded along. "we don't have weapons or heavy horse" I agreed,"and you may have fought many wildling raids before but you have never fought an army of the freefolk and giants. especially one lead by me."

"you seem to think too much of yourself. maybe i will end this threat here and now"

before anyone could react, he unsheathed his sword and came at me. People were shouting something but i wasn't paying them any attention. I was focused on the big man. He swung his sword as if to cut me in half from above. I had already pulled in enough air and earth in when they took my blades away. It wasn't so much that I was abnormally fast or strong. but just enough so that i was stronger and faster than this giant. If it came to war, I wanted my abilities to come as a surprise to them. that was the only advantage i had over them after all.

I stepped aside from his swing and pushed him into the other soldiers behind me. the soldiers on the other side came at me. I ducked under the swing of another soldier and punched another one in the face. I took his sword as he fell to the ground unconscious. another one came at me from the side. I parried his strike and kicked his legs from beneath him. I had no time to check what had happened to the man. there were too many of them and I was trying not to kill them whilst not getting killed. I ducked under one sword and parried another. i grabbed another soldier and slammed his head into the wall. two more came at me and I kicked one in the balls while i slammed my head into the second. there were others still shouting but i never heard what they were saying. I made a cut to one soldier's leg and unarmed the next. I kicked the unarmed soldier into the ones behind him. I turned around as i sensed a sword being brought down at me through my metal crafting. I came face to face with the big man again as i went to my knee with the force of his blocked blow. i never gave him the chance to recover. I punched his knee with my left hand and broke it with a noisy crack. he fell down just as i stood up. Looking around, I saw i was still surrounded but they were keeping away from me.

I looked at lord stark who was staring at me. "you didn't kill any of them", he said.

"I thought i would be bad manners to kill your men under your own roof", I told him.

he seemed a little embarrassed. he went over to the big giant who was still on the ground.

"It seems the wildling has better manners than you, lord umber" he said although he was smiling.

"I must apologize for his behavior. It was not my intent to have you harmed when you came peacefully here", he said.

I nodded and said,"but we seem to be standing at an impasse. if you cannot allow us pass the wall then we will soon be at war. I wont be this courteous next time."

He seemed to ponder it while scratching his beard. "It is not as simple as denying you entry. You heard the maester. we are no longer kings." again i sensed the room darken. i could sense their emotions. they seemed to hate being reminded of that. but i could feel satisfaction coming from the maester. Before i could respond however another voice joined the argument. but this one was in my favor. the speaker was a girl younger than me.

"Why can't we allow them south?", she asked the room in general.

"Come lya, you know why?" said a young man standing next to her. they both had dark hair and grey eyes. Lord stark's eyes. His children i thought. she shrugged away from her brother's hand and came forward.

"We are the Starks. We built the wall not the dragons. We created the night's watch not the dragons. We may not be kings now but the Stark name still carries weight. If we, the children of Brandon the builder, allow them south of the wall then no one will have a right to refuse them." I felt the room change. I could feel pride bouncing off of lord stark as well as others. although the maester seemed to be scowling. I didn't need watercrafting to tell me that he disapproved. she continued,"We have long been a friend to the night's watch. They will not dare to go against our orders. The king may be sitting on a southern throne but this is the north. And it belongs to Starks. We were kings when the Valerian were still herding sheep in Valeria. they can moan all they want but they will have to live with our decision. Lady mormont, how many ravens have i seen my father read from you about wildling raids. and you lord karstark or you lord umber. would it not be better if there was on less headache for us to deal with. this is a golden opportunity. we should seize it. The north is a harsh place but one less headache means we came better prepare for the winters. for mark my words, Winter is coming."

Everyone seemed to be looking uncomfortable after her speech. I held my blade out to lord stark who took it from me.

"Thank you for not killing my men", he said. he turned to his lords and said,"I happen to agree with what my daughter said. North has slowly been bleeding since we became wardens rather than kings. King or the south doesn't much care about the north. so why should we care about them. we helped the dragons during their dance. yet they went back on their word. the iron born raids have been plaguing us since the dragons came. Ironthrone does nothing to help us. the entire western coast is nearly uninhabited because of the ironborn. no the dragons don't care about us. they never have. we should solve our own problems. another 150000 men would go a long way in solving some of those problems. But i would still listen to your council. should you wish to deny them entry, my lords. i will concede to your will. but i hope you will see reason."

with that he walked back to this seat and sat down. I bowed down to his daughter as she looked at me. her face could have been carved from stone. she knelt next to the big man and motioned for some soldiers to come help him to a seat. When everyone had sat down, a skinny man far to the left of lord stark stood up.

"You speak true lord stark. the north has slowly been bleeding. if we can get rid of one problem ourselves, then we should. House Bolton will stand beside you in this", he said then he sat down.

another man stood up. he was even smaller than lord bolton. "I agree with lord stark as well. our land is harsher and bigger than all 6 southern kingdoms combined. yet we pay the same taxes that they do. we need our coin to manage our land. that's why moat cailin is a ruin that it is. House Reed stands with you, my lord"

This seemed hopeful. A fat man stood up now. he looked at the woman with the ax and said, "we are far to the south. so, we don't deal with as many raids from wildlings as bear island, last hearth, or karhold. But we were hunted out of our homes once. But the starks gave us land and shelter to prosper. And now we are the richest house of the north. If we can become part of the north then so can these wildlings. they even follow the old gods which we do not. House Manderly stands with you, my lord."

another one in our favor, i thought. another one stood up now. "Lady Lyanna speaks true. Starks were kings before the valerions were. And house stark has ruled the north with honor and fairness. far better than any of these southerners or these dragons. House Cerwyn will not break faith with House Stark now. we will stand with you in this my lord."

Soon after him, Houses Glover, Hornwood, Tallhart, Dustin, Flint and Forester gave their support to the starks. Everyone seemed to be looking at the remaining two lords and lady. I would learn later that they were the northern most houses. therefore, they had suffered most of the raids by the freefolk.

The lady mormont finally stood up,"House mormont has kept faith with house stark since we become a ruling house. There is no animosity between us. but you have not suffered at the hands of wildlings as we have. we are a small house. your daughters haven't been stolen by wildlings or your brothers and husbands killed by them. I cannot with my whole heart forget all that we have been through. House Mormont will never accept the wildlings."

the other two lords seemed to be nodding along with her. shit. this was going great but now i saw disappointment on lord stark's face but also sadness. I could feel her sincerity through my watercraft. she truly believed what she said. I stepped forward drawing everyone's eyes.

"My lady, I am not rejecting anything you have said. I am sure the freefolk have earned their reputation and hatred. but let me assure you, life on the other side of the wall hasn't been easy either. I can not bring your dead brother or husbands back from the dead. or bring your stolen daughters back. but I promise you this. Those that come south with me will never raid your lands. I beg you to look to the future. you may not be able to bring back the dead. but you can save thousands that will die in the war that will follow or the raids that keep happening in the future."

the lords seemed to be agreeing with me now. but i was only staring at lady mormont. "do you truly believe that you can control them? what if you are wrong?" she asked me.

"I am their king, my lady. they will follow my command. and should any disobey, I will leave the judgement to you. if you want them dead, they will die by my hand. should you chose to let them take the black, they will take the black. I swear it on my honor." I told her.

She looked at me and then lord stark. I felt her guilt through watercrafting as she looked at lord stark. maybe because she was the one going against lord stark. it was hard for her. I really felt for her then. she looked at me and said,"if you can hold to those words, then house mormont will have no objections to yours coming south"

Lord umber and karstark seemed to share a look. then lord karstarks stood up and said,"If they can indeed hold to those words, then we see no problem with them coming south and ending this bloodshed once and for all. house Karstark will stand behind this decision." with that he sat down. now everyone seemed to be eyeing the big man.

"You will forgive me if i don't stand up, my lord", he said and some of the lords laughed. then he turned a sour face towards me. "what about those that don't come south with you? will they not still raid our lands?"

"They might", I conceded to him,"but their numbers will be far fewer. and i am sure that you will welcome those raids from what i saw earlier" a few more lords laughed. "but I will bring with me most of the strength of the freefolk. once who were your enemy will now be your allies. even against those that would come raiding south. I do, however, have a suggestion that might help in this situation." I looked at lord stark who nodded for me continue.

"Those seeking refuge in the south should be allowed passage through the wall" before anyone could speak up i continued,"given that they follow the rules of the land. which include no raiding or looting. no stealing wives and accepting lord stark as their lord. Lands north of the wall are harsh and life even harsher. If offered shelter, many would simply accept rather than raid." I finished.

Lord umber seemed to ponder it for a while. "Oh bloody hell. why not. let the wildlings through the wall. house umber will not object." he said while a few laughed.

Lord Stark stood up and everyone went silent,"then come Lord frost and kneel". I walked forward and went to one knee. A great sword was brought to him. He unsheathed it and held it point first in front of him.

"Do you swear House Stark as your liege lords?" he asked.

"I do"

"Do you swear to follow the law of the land?" He asked.

"I do"

"Do you swear to answer our call for aid, should it be in the time of war or peace?" He asked.

"I do"

He touched his sword at one of my shoulder and said,"By the power vested in me by old kings of winter, I hereby pronounce you a lord of the north. May peace and prosperity follow in your lands. stand a Lord of winter." I stood up as the lords started banging their fists to the table while the soldiers were banging their fists to their chest.

Author's note

1\. As i mentioned earlier, English is my second language. I could with some effort fix the grammar. but i think it a small sacrifice for telling the story in a more timely fashion. I cannot wait months or weeks in between chapters.

2\. I personally prefer original characters rather than using those that are already in the stories. they are well set in their ways. every fanfiction that i have read where character did things completely against what was clearly the best part of said characters, it ruined the story for me. Ned Stark's honor. Robb Stark's honor. Cersie using her body to her advantage. Jaime's careless attitude and twisted sense of honor. Jon's duty and honor. Tyrion's self depreciation. you can not change these characters. and without changing them you cannot change the story. so we might as well read the books rather than fanfiction. but that's just how i feel.

new characters, however, i can mould any way i want.


	11. The north

Soon after i became a lord of the north, people started congratulating me. Personally i didn't understand why they were. I mean that's why I had come south to begin with. but I was a king when i walked in and now I was a lord. If anything, this was a step down. But if this was the peaceful solution, then I would gladly step down. I was a second son to begin with. so i had known my whole life that I won't be inheriting my father's role. My father had taught me long ago that the throne was nothing but a prison. While my brother was destined to that prison, I was free to do whatever I wanted. I had enjoyed that freedom. If I play my cards right, I can still push this responsibility on someone else. Maybe Mance I thought.

I was brought out of my thoughts when a young man approached me and said,"Congratulation and welcome to the north."

"Thank you," I said to him.

"I am Brandon Stark, heir to Winterfell", he said casually, " and this is my sister Lyanna and my brother Benjen."

"A plesure to meet you," I said as i bowed to them.

I bowed to the lady again and said,"I owe you, my lady. if not for you, I never would have been able to make them see reason."

"I only said what i thought to be true" she replied.

"You can fight well with a blade. I would love to cross swords with you in the training yard tomorrow." Brandon said.

I was going to politely decline the offer when Lord Stark decided to join our conversation.

"Perhaps you can teach my children some manners, Lord Frost. they are half wildlings themselves," he said as the children laughed. he continued with,"You can enjoy Winterfell's hospitality tonight. we will discuss where your people can settle tomorrow." I nodded. I still had a lot of work to do but i didn't want to push my luck.

the night went uneventfully. I chatted with most of the lords of the north. they all seem to want to talk to me. To size me up on a personal level, I thought. I found out that it was a harvest festival. that's why so many of them were here. As the night went on, we drank and somewhere along the way music started playing. Brandon Stark soon found a girl to dance with. then another. then another. He was the heir to the north, I reminded myself. its only fair that girls must be trying to win his heart.

Lyanna Stark was also dancing with some young man that i didn't recognize. She seemed to be trying to get away from him.

"I pity the man who would marry her one day" I turned around and saw Brandon Stark smirking at me. "She is too wild."

"Well, I am the king of the wildlings", I said. and we both laughed.

"If you think that lord stark will marry his only daughter to a wildling, you must be crazier than i thought", he said.

"I was jesting, my lord. I know my boundaries," I said to him. he nodded and grabbed more wine from a serving girl.

"Well then lets initiate you in the proper northern traditions", He said as he shoved one goblet at me.

I decided that I liked Brandon Stark. He was a little like me. Cocky, proud and careless. those were the exact traits my sword master had identified me with. Although last couple of years had changed me a little.

I woke up the next day feeling as if someone had split my head in two. someone was banging on my door. I opened the door to find a soldier with a direwolf on his chest.

"Lord Stark has requested you to join him in the solar," he said.

I nodded at him. As soon as i had swallowed as much water as i could manage, I headed to the main keep with the soldier. I wasn't in the main keep. I was in where the soldiers slept. They were pretty overstretched with so many lords visiting from all over the north. It seems a little more quiet than yesterday. the courtyard wasn't as full either. I voiced my thoughts to my escort.

"you slept till noon. the other lords have departed for their homes already. all except lord umber. He would be staying until his leg heals," He said to me.

The day before, I had too many things on my mind to notice things. As i enter the keep now, I started noticing things. It was warmer compared to where i had slept. Yet i saw no fires along the way. I decided to feel out the landscape. I was surprised to find that the walls were hollow and flowing with water. Water that i traced all the way back to hot springs beneath the castle. Smart, I thought to myself. Maybe I will borrow this design too.

We arrived at lord stark's solar and the soldier knocked on the door.

"Enter", came the reply.

I entered to find Lord Stark, Brandon, and the maester in the room. It was littered with books and scrolls. There was only one desk and lord stark sat behind it under a direwolf banner. Brandon stood to his right and maester to the left.

"How's the head?" asked Brandon.

"I don't want to think about it. and please stop yelling," I said even though he wasn't yelling. He just laughed.

"We need to decide where your people will settle", Lord Stark said. He was pointing at the map that was in front of him. I walked over and studied the map. I already knew where i wanted to settle but this was the first map i had seen. so i tried to commit it to memory from the wall to the neck.

"There is an old volcano here. If this land is uninhabited then i would like to settle my people here", I said pointing to the mid of mountain range by the western shore.

"Are you sure? I was going to suggest the stoney shore as its nearly empty", he said pointing to another part of the map.

"No, I am certain. This will be good for us. the freefolk wont live somewhere too far south" I told him.

"Well then so be it. The mountain clans don't use that land because of the volcano and the ironborn. You will have all of this coast from wolfswood to the top of mountains." he said. he seemed to be thinking something. "You can also have these mountains as the clan's are nowhere near any of these" he said pointing to the coastal mountains north and south from the volcano. "the clans only use the deeper lands in between the mountains but they avoid the coast because of the damned Ironborn. if you settle here, you will have to deal with Ironborns' raids."

"I can handle the ironborn", I said with a smile.

He stared at me for a moment then shrugged,"Well that's settled then. I have prepared letters for the night's watch and the Iron throne. This will give me some headache but in the end, It will be worth it."

He took out a letter and gave it to Brandon.

"I'll be going north to make sure the night's watch doesn't create too much trouble", He said to me.

I nodded.

"I"ll leave today then. I can get word to the freefolk. Even if I am not there, they will be expecting you." I said to him.

"I should tell you that as a ruling house, you need to have a banner and house words along with a name of the castle or city you establish as your seat. I will write to the citadel today as well. They will send you a maester. But don't expect that any time soon", Lord stark said.

"I can tell you the banner right now. I would like a direwolf", I said.

"Why a direwolf? that's house stark's banner", he asked.

"Well, I have a direwolf companion. His name is Shadow. He is currently with the Freefolk. So, I thought that it would be appropriate for my banner", I replied.

He seemed to ponder that for a while.

"A direwolf companion? truly? and the giants and the children?", He asked with both eyebrows lifted. I nodded.

"Trust me, my lord. Its all real. Men chased them north of the wall. but they exist and i am bringing them back."

He wiped a hand over his face. Brandon had a curious look on his face. as if he was still working on believing. But the maester was looking at me as if I had told him that i was a god myself. I knew that one would never believe me unless he saw them with his own eyes.

"In that case, it does make sense but you will have to choose different colors than house stark", He said.

"How about a Black direwolf with red eyes on a white snowy field?", I asked him.

He looked at the maester who nodded.

"That should be fine", Lord Stark said and with that he dismissed everyone.

After getting something to eat from the kitchens, I walked out of the keep.

"Are you going to walk to the wall?" Brandon said to me.

"I walked all the way here, didn't I? besides i'll bet that i'll still beat you there", I said to him. He laughed and wished me good luck. Once I was far enough, I veiled myself and took to the sky again.

I didn't go back to the wall. instead, I flew back to the volcano where i was planning on settling the freefolk. By early evening, i had arrived there. I landed in the volcano again and called for alera. She was there in an instant.

"I see you have found another volcano", she stated.

I nodded. "I need to wake this one too but its gone too far. I'll need your help", I said to her.

I could feel her reaching for the volcano. "It can be accomplished. It will be much easier if I do most of the heavy lifting. you can do your part too. but mostly so that when it wakes, you can submit it to your will", she said.

"Yes. About that. I was planning on asking you to take over the volcano", before she could protest, i continued,"Back in Alera, we had a ruling lord take over each volcano. but there was a problem with that. We can't always be there to protect the volcano. My grandfather exploited that exact weakness when he wiped out Kalare. You, on the other hand, can come here in an instant to prevent that."

"And you are hoping that it would tie me to this land and save me from dying", she said as if she could see right through me. Maybe she could.

"yes well. I did say that i would try to save you if I can. Although i still don't think one volcano is enough for that. but it may slow down the process of you disintegrating." I replied.

"Sometimes, you are too stubborn to admit defeat, little one", she said to me.

"I haven't lost yet", I reminded her.

With a smile, she replied,"No, you haven't. Shall we?"

I nodded and we got to work. Without her, I may not have been able to wake the volcano at all. It took her until dawn next day to wake it. Everything went according to the plan. She bound the volcano to herself a lot quicker than i could have. Good thing I never tried to submit her to my control. It scared me how easily she took over the volcano.

"Yayyy, well done. I am going to hunt something and then sleep for a while. I'll see you when i wake up", I told her as i took off hunting.

I woke up in the evening of that same day. Before i started working with Alera again, I decided to check on the freefolk and the children. So, I water crafted to the north of the wall. That was the best part of the entire north. there was so much snow that i could craft anywhere i wanted. I could still feel my link with Shadow. I focused on that to figure out where they were. It was the haunted forest but i couldn't tell which part. So, I just watercrafted and reached for Shadow. I was there in an instant. I had startled Shadow a bit as well as val who was travelling next to him.

"I didn't mean to scare you", I said to them both"but i need to speak with mance and mag." After spending some much needed time with Shadow, I reached for where Val had said they would be.

"Evening Mance, Mag", I said to them as I reached them. Mance stared at me and muttered,"that's crazy and I have seen the walkers."

I just smiled at him and asked, "How long till you reach near Castle Black?"

"Less than 10 days", He replied.

"Good. when you reach there, make contact with night's watch and ask for Brandon Stark. He is the one who would let you cross over."

"So, you made the peace then" I nodded.

"Mance, I know freefolk and the southerners don't like each other but we need to maintain peace. You know our only other choice." He nodded.

I pointed in front of me and the snow shifted into a rough map of the north.

"We will settle on the coast by this volcano. Once you cross the wall, make for the ocean and follow the coast. I will be waiting here for you." I said to them.

they just nodded back and i cut the crafting. Next, I went to talk with the children. they were making a peaceful trip south as well. they will reach the meeting point before the freefolk. I suppose it was easier travel for them because they weren't so many. Now that i had taken care of that, I had a city to plan. more headache. I sighed. It seemed like my life was one headache after another. the vord, the wraiths, accidentally traveling to a different world, the walkers, the freefolk, the giants, the children, and now the fucking civilization. damn it. After i was done with self pity, I got off my ass. Only the dead have no worries, I thought to myself. there was still a lot of meat left from the stag i had hunted. most of it really. so I slowly ate a stomach full. I had no ingredients, so it tasted bland. But it was still a remarkable improvement from the vord.

It was dark when i finally started planning the city. I called on Alera and she appeared. she did seem a like she was recovering. in one day? maybe it was just wishful thinking. anyhow, i started laying down my plan for the city for her. I wanted to cover the volcano with solid earth crafted stone. That way I was free to build on it however i liked. I designed two walls all around the city. First one would be 5 or so miles in diameter. It would reach from near the coast to the mountains in the back. the second one just 100 meters inside that one. Each wall had to be 250 feet high and 10 feet wide. I had heard that in winter, snows can fall hundred feet deep. so it had to be taller than that. We sat there around my fire, designing the city.

"Tall order. even for me. why do you want to make it so large? there aren't that many bodies to live there", she said.

"I am not planning just for the world's end. I am planning it for the future generations. We have to assume, at least that we might survive this war."

"I just want you to build the outer walls with space for one gate in each direction. everything else, I can get the freefolk and the giants to build slowly over time", I said. all i needed was a defensible position.

"It will take time pulling and crafting that much stone together", she said.

"we have 10 days or so until they reach the wall. Another 10 days or so until they reach here after that", I told her.

"I can manage in that much time. what will you do?" she asked.

"I am going to take an inventory", I replied to her and with that we set ourselves to our tasks.

Author's note:

These last two chapters were the most difficult for me to write. when nothing too exciting is happening, its very hard to make the story move along. I hope you like it. we will get to the cool stuff soon enough. plus i will in future write from other character's point of view as well but the story hasn't evolved that much yet.


	12. The Night King

I had gone from one coastal mountain to another. Taking inventory. I found some precious metal in a few northern mountains but what i really wanted was in 2 southern most coastal mountains. Iron. There was enough Iron in one of those mountains to arm all the freefolk, giants and even children few times over. But will I be able to equip all of them before the night king arrived? I wasn't even sure if they had a smith with them.

Shadow was the first one to arrive. I could tell that he had left the group during the night to travel ahead. I wasn't complaining. I had missed him too. He had grown maybe another foot in that month of travel.

"You are growing fast. I wonder if you will be bigger than your mother?" I said to him as i scratched his ears. He liked that. My eyesight had gotten so good that i could see in the dark even better than daylight. I wonder what changes were happening to him because of me.

It would take the freefolk another day to arrive. So, I decided to go hunting with Shadow. We went into the mountains. there wasn't much game to be found. But i was able to track better than most due to earthcraft. I found some game a few miles ahead. maybe it was a stag or a deer. As we got closer, I found that we weren't the only ones tracking the game. there were men after the game from the opposite side. These must the mountain clans. technically, it was their land. I only had the coastal mountains. I decided to let them take the lead in the hunt. I surveyed the land and there was only one way the deer would run when they made their move. Shadow and I went in that direction to ambush them. I heard what seemed like bow strings. then the deer were on the loose. we waited on the opposite sides of the passage where the deers would flee to. As the deers passed, we waited for the last of the heard. I could feel shadow crouching on the opposite side of me. we both knew our intentions with our bond. I leapt from my cover just as shadow did. He sank his teeth into one of the last two deers as I put my sword through the one next to it. I could taste the deer's blood through shadow and the raw satisfaction of the hunt with his pack.

I settled down next to shadow as he ate. we only needed one deer to hunt but i figure i might need a peace offering for the mountain clans. I started a fire. They arrived soon after. I could feel them surrounding us. I stayed put. One came out of the trees to my right. I stayed put.

"What are you doing in our lands?" He asked. he was wearing a lot of furs with a sword at his hip and a bow in his hand.

"My friend here was hungry and felt like hunting. We simply chased game all the way here from the coast", I replied as i nodded towards shadow. He seemed to take in the direwolf. After staring at shadow for a while, he said,"It is still our land. all the game in these mountains belong to us by rights. small enough that it is."

I nodded. "I understand but it's a hard concept to explain to a direwolf. he goes where he likes. But i did hunt this second deer as a peace offering for you and yours."

He looked at the second deer and nodded. He whistled and all the other men came out of the trees. they had put down 3 more deer that they were carrying with them. They all seem to be eyeing shadow with wonder. Shadow, on the other hand, didn't even care that they were there.

"We accept your peace offering but you cannot hunt in our lands again. we need all the game here to feed ourselves", same man said again. He seemed to be the leader.

"I am Alric Frost. Lord Stark granted the coastal mountains and the coast to me and my men. We are going to be neighbors. I understand this is your land and we will not hunt here. But should a problem arise, I would be more than happy to compensate you and yours", I told him.

"We don't like wildlings much. But if the Stark said you come in peace then we will accept it. But should your people raid our lands, we will answer back just the same", He said to me. If we were to settle near them, it would be good in the long term to have better relations. They seemed to take it all in and advised me against the ironborn raids. I took a big portion out of shadow's deer and put it on the fire. I found out that they were Wull clan. the strongest, at least according to themselves, of the mountain clans. From what i could gather, the clans didn't like each other very much. or the freefolk for that matter. But they had been told of us coming south by Lord Stark. So, they would tolerate us at least. It was a beginning, I said to myself. A lot of work to be done. They will not forget centuries of war in one day. After we had all eaten, I realized that it was high noon. I should be getting back if i wanted to reach back with shadow before nightfall. They seemed to have the same idea. We said our farewells and departed.

When we arrived back, I settled on the outer wall by the northern gate. or where the gate will be when its finished. The freefolk arrived early in the morning. We saw them look at the walls in wonder as they poured through the gate. I saw mag leading the giants. the last to come through were the children. After they had made camp, I went over to what was mance's tent. but it was mine now i guess. When i arrived there, I saw mag there but mance was nowhere to be seen. I didn't need to worry. He arrived shortly after and exchanged his cloak with Styr. I eyed him and he explained,"I used to be in the night's watch. So, I am what they call a deserter because I refused to kill the freefolk. If they knew it was me passing through the wall, they would execute me. Even Lord Stark would not stop them. So, I switched my night's watch cloak with Styr and mixed in with the crowd to pass through. Thank the gods, there were enough of us for me to hide."

I nodded and surveyed the rest of the men. A few new faces. "how many did we finally bring through the wall?" I asked him.

"All the giants and the children. And 160,000 freefolk. There are about 10 thousand stubborn ones still north of the wall. But i dispatched some messengers to them. only few of the freefolk have horses. But it will be the last chance they have. or they are on their own", He replied.

"Not bad. We can work with those numbers. We don't know how long it would take for the night king to arrive at the wall but we need to be ready when he does. We need proper weapons. We need proper defenses here if the wall fails to stop them", I said to all of them. They nodded along. I Cut a 6 feet long hole in the bottom of the tent. Its not like we would be moving from here now. I pulled on earth and created a table of stone. With the top filled with sand. I waved a hand and two unfinished walls were made of the sand.

"This is the current progress. We need to put four gates on each wall and build the entire city within the second wall", I looked up and saw they were all staring at me. The new ones i could understand but i was getting impatient with the others. "You should be used to me by now", I sighed.

I moved on. "I want you to split the giants into two equal sized groups", I said to mag.

"One to work within the city and one over here", I waved a hand and a line of mountains appeared behind the supposed city. "these two southern ones have iron in them. I want the giants as well as 10 thousand capable men to work on this site. Another 10 thousand men solely responsible for moving the mined iron from there to here. the rest of all the freefolk, giants and children will all be working here to build the city."

"ah yes the city now. We will find stone from the mountains directly behind us or any we find at the mine as well" I said to them. I waved a hand and the mountains disappeared but the city became more widespread.

"This is how I want the city to be built", I told them as i waved. The sand shifted and a complete model of the city stood before them. It was like a small mountain itself. They seemed a bit unnerved.

"We wont be finishing it all in one day or year. Lets assume we win the fight against the dead. this is just in case the future exists. Until then we just need to have enough sand and stone moved to build the important buildings. those for the freefolk and those for the children and giants. Also, the main keep." I waved at the sand again and it all disappeared. I started showing them the plan one by one. I wanted each level of the city to be higher than the one before it. If we are attacked, we would always have higher ground even if we retreat. then I showed the first level. It was simply stone to create a sloped ground as we went further and further. Then we build houses for the freefolk and then the giants and then the children and finally the main keep.

"Mance, you will oversee the construction of the city. Mag, you will oversee the mine. I will come and help you both as need be along the way. we will start tomorrow morning. We don't have time to waste." I said to them. I had barely finished when the tent door flapped and val walked in followed by weaver.

"I need to speak with you in private", weaver said to me. she seemed in a rush. I nodded and dismissed them all. when we were alone, she said,"the dead have taken the last refuge."  
"But we were prepared for it. were we not?", I asked her.

"Yes we were. But they have captured the body of the three eyed raven and resurrected him. I think the night king is trying to gain information from his mind. Or trying to control his powers even though he is dead. we didn't anticipate this." she finished miserably.

"Well, what is the worst that could happen?" I asked her. she looked at me like i was an idiot.

"He could read all of history. How the wall was created? How to get past it if there is a way? All the hidden secrets that we have. The trees remember all of it."

Well damn it. "What do you want me to do?" I asked her. Even before she opened her mouth, I knew what she was going to say.

"Find and Burn the three eyed raven", she said. Easier said than done. I sighed,"I don't really have a choice. do I?", I asked her. she shook her head. "he is already too powerful as it is. He will be unstoppable if he acquired the knowledge of the greenseer. Knowledge is power."

That settles it. Suddenly, i felt shadow under my hand. I looked at him. He seemed to be saying,"good hunting, brother."

"I will try my best to find and destroy his body", I said to her as i moved towards the door.

"He will be where ever the night king is. but be careful. the original walker is a lot more powerful than his soldiers", she said to me. I nodded at her and told her to inform mance and mag where i was going. And I took to the sky and started flying back north again.

I pressed as hard as i could. It was imperative that i destroy the greenseer's body before the night king can extract too much information through him. I passed the wall, and was soon flying over the haunted forest. By the time I reached the northern edge of the forest, It was dark. or maybe it was always dark here. I saw the smoking remains of the tree. and all around it was the dead. as far as i could see with my eyes to the north, it was covered with the dead and the walkers. I was 500 feet above the dead under my veil. Too many dead to go through to find one dead man, I thought to myself.

He would be where ever the night king is. that's what weaver said. So, I created a lens and started scanning the dead for as many walkers as i could find. After a while, I found a good cluster of them. I smiled to myself. That had to be the night king surrounded by his generals. I flew closer to the cluster of walkers. there must be a hundred of them there. I looked at them slowly. One of the bastards looked like it was carrying a child. I focused on the child. It looked human to me. What did they need a child for?

they all looked relatively the same except for one. the one in the center looked more solid for the lack of a better word. while the others looked like they were covered in white solid ice, this one looked like he was covered in black ice. And if that wasn't enough, He seemed to wearing a crown made of ice. Yes, that has to be the night king. Before him knelt the form of Brynden Rivers. The night king seemed to be focused solely on him.

Whatever was going on, I had to stop it right now. Maybe I could kill the night king here and now. I could end this entire war with a swing of my sword. He created them all and they will fall with him. Hopefully. I slowed myself down with some effort. Weaver said he was stronger than the rest. I may not be able to kill him. or he may be able to kill me before i got the chance. Remember the mission, I said to myself.

Destroy Brynden River's Body.

Only and only after i have achieved that, I should try anything else. Once I had eliminated all my other options, I was able to focus on the task. I made my choice with fire. I went closer to the scene. when i was hovering about 150 feet over them, I summoned all my fire furies. I focused them all on the two figures in the middle. Brynden Rivers and the night king. And I unleashed them.

The Sky turned white for a moment as fire, so hot that it was almost white to the eye, came down upon the scene. chaos erupted. when the flash cleared, Only ash remained where Brynden Rivers was kneeling. The night king only seemed a little stunned but otherwise unharmed. I had been expecting that. I landed right in the middle of the circle and went straight at the night king. He produced a sword of ice out of nowhere. He was fast but not as fast as the vord queen. I was faster than him. I blocked and parried two strikes and brought my sword down at his shoulder. It should have opened him up to the hip or shattered him like others but my sword just chipped a little bit of ice from his shoulders.

I stared at him for a moment stunned. then the other walkers started attacking me. I killed a few of them and tried to fly away. But a dead giant grabbed my leg and pulled me down. I got slammed into the ground. I was still a little dazed when they swarmed all over me. I tried to pull on earth to throw them off. but to my horror, I realized that i was over a frozen lake. there was no earth to pull strength from. Two dead giants and a walker pushed me to my knees while few more tried to pry my blade away from my fingers. So this is how it ends, I said to myself.

the night king walked over to me and placed his hand over my heart. Here is a tip about metalcrafting your skin. It hurts. It hurts even more when its cold. the hand of night king felt like somebody stabbed my heart with ice. I felt my mind get cloudy as if someone was intruding upon my one true sanctuary. I suddenly felt like death wasn't what the night king had planned for me. I pushed back as if i was locked in a mental confrontation with a giant fury. the night king seemed surprised. Just then I felt the blade slip away from my fingers and i lost my metal crafting.

Before the night king could react however, I slammed my head into his face. I think I hurt myself more than i did him. I felt some blood on my face but I had more pressing matters. the blow had startled the night king. I took the momentary distraction and pulled all the fire i could down upon all around me. Again the world flashed white. when the flash cleared. there were ash and smoking remains all around me. I took a quick glance at the night king and pulled air to dive for my sword that was lying on the ground. maybe the flash killed the walker who had pried it from my hands. As my left hand closed around the hilt, I turned metal and not a moment later I felt something stab me in the back and break.

My plan was to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. But because of fog of war, I found myself directly in front of the walker that was carrying a child. I couldn't leave an infant in the middle of this dead army. I swung my sword and the bastard used the baby to block my blow. I was expecting that. the vord used to use human shields against alerans in the first war. It wasn't an unheard tactic. so i shifted my weight and my blade changed directions. It went low and right through the middle of its torso. I caught the child as the walker shattered. All this had barely taken a few heartbeats since the flash. so, i launched myself into the sky to save myself as much as the child.

Once I was safe in the air, I turned around and surveyed the damage. The lake had cracked all around where we had been because of the fire. But it was still solid near the center. Maybe because of the night king. He was staring up at me. I could still feel his hand on my chest. I looked down and saw that it had indeed burned into my skin. the bastard almost killed me. Another walker hurled an ice spear at me but i dodged it easily. I sheathed my sword and produced my broke sword. another spear and i hurled my broken sword at the walker who shattered.

I flew further up and air crafted my voice down to the night king.

"You survived me once and I survived you once. But I promise you the next time we meet, I will be prepared. Flee back north into your wasteland if you want to survive. because if you came south, there is nothing but death waiting for you."

And to make my point, I reached with watercrafting and broke the lake all around him. Thousands of dead fell into the lake. I stared at him for a moment longer and then flew south with the child in my hands.


	13. Azor Ahai

It was still dark when I reached the wall. The child had started crying as we had left the haunted forest. but there was nothing i could do for the child. I had pressed even harder on the way back for the sake of the child. As i passed over the wall, I felt myself slow down. It felt like suddenly i was moving through water not air. Was the wall trying to stop me like it did the dead? was it the night king's touch? I will have to ask weaver about this.

I reached the freefolk when the sun was rising. After landing near my tent, I told the guard to find me val. He quickly walked off. I heard the tent open as val walked in. She stopped short when she looked at me.

"I need you to find a wet nurse for this child", I told her as i handed her a child.

"What happened?", she asked me still staring at me.

"I succeeded. I rescued the child as i was leaving the army of the dead", I said to her.

"One of your eyes is blue", she said to me. I stared at her for a while before pouring some of the water in a pot and staring at myself. My left eye was indeed blue. I looked at her and said,"I had an interesting meeting with the night king."

"did you" she stopped mid way when i shook my head.

"you should take care of the child. I will have weaver take a look at my eye", I told her. she nodded and left. Soon after mag and mance came. They looked at me and stopped short too. I waved them in. I spoke with them about what i saw north of the wall and they seemed shaken.

"If you can't kill the night king, then we are surely doomed", rumbled mag.

"We will figure out a way. everyone and everything can be killed. its just harder with some. But I will kill that bastard. I promise you this." I finished as the flap opened and val walked in followed by weaver.

Weaver wasn't surprised when she saw me. Val must have told her.

"Tell me all that happened north of the wall", she asked me.

So I told her all of it. the cave, the dead. the walkers, the child and the night king. I also told her of the wall. How it tugged at me while i flew over it.

"You are lucky that you are alive. the night king tried to turn you into a walker", she said to me.

"But I could pass the wall. So, he didn't succeed right?", I asked her.

"No. otherwise you would never be able to pass the wall. But we should wash away what small trace he left on you. I can do this but i need everyone else to leave." I nodded and jerked my head towards the exit. they left one by one.

Shadow stirred from his sleep and came over to me. He stared at me and i felt his query. I sighed and reassured him. Weaver told me to lie on the ground and produced from somewhere a few stones made from obsidian. They all had strange markings on them. I didn't question her. I was too tired to care at that point. I hoped she knew what she was doing. To this day, I don't know if let go of metal crafting and fell asleep or she did something to make me fall asleep.

I woke up to find myself on the ground. My back cracked as i stood up from the hard ground.

"Welcome back", I turned to find weaver sitting on the bed. Great. she slept in the bed while i was on the floor. I walked over to the water basin and looked at myself. Two red eyes were staring back at me.

"Is it gone?" I asked her.

"Yes, you were lucky. there wasn't too much of it. or else the wall would have killed you", she replied. I thanked her. There was some food sitting on the table. I started eating and gave some to shadow.

"I didn't want to tell you earlier in front of val but i fought the night king", I told her. she sat up straight and stared at me intently. so, I told her about the small fight. how my sword was unable to kill the night king. how my fire seemed of little use against him. I was even doubting if throwing him in a volcano will help.

A long silence followed after my tale.

"I think its time to tell you the full tale of the long night", she said. I stared at her.

"But none can know what i am about to reveal to you today", she said.

"If it answers my questions, then so be it", I said to her and I sealed the conversation with air crafting. and told her none can hear outside the tent. she nodded and started her tale.

"You already know that we created him to fight the men. But we never realized how powerful our magic was until it was unleashed. Soon men and children were both fighting him for our survival. We had taken a sanctuary on the sacred isle. We had created wards on the isle to keep the walkers and dead out. But there was not much else we could do to defeat them. It seemed like, we had doomed the entire world in our foolishness. All seemed lost. That is until two men sought us out on the isle. We saw them approach the isle and leave their weapons on shore. They walked to the heart tree and knelt. The men were Brandon Stark and Azor Ahai. They came from different lands but the fight against the walkers had united them as brothers. They came seeking answers to fight the walkers. After a long night in discussion with our elders, we decided that it was our duty to save the world from our creation. So, we told them everything we knew. How we created them? and how they could be killed. But the Great walker, the first one, could not be killed by any normal means. It would have to be magic more powerful than what created him to destroy him. A magic so dark that it was forbidden and a secret even most children did not know. Blood Magic"

Weaver seemed sad and her eyes were far away now.

"We taught them both how blood magic worked. this particular magic is tied as you may imagine to blood sacrifice. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the magic. With new knowledge the two departed. Brandon Stark fought with all his might and prowess to slow the walkers down. He was a great general. While Azor worked day and night to create a weapon to kill the night king. He worked seven days and seven nights on the isle, creating a sword. Mixing dragonglass with the iron to create a stronger blade. when it was finished, he put the blade through the heart of a lion he had captured. He presented us the sword. And we told him, it was not strong enough to kill even newly born walkers. Azor was anything if not determined. He worked 50 days and 50 nights for the next blade. And this time, He found a volunteer to offer their life's blood for the blade. He plunged his sword through the man's heart and created the blade. Again He presented the blade to us. The elders told him that it was strong enough to kill new born walkers but not the great other. He left again. Although I had felt that he knew who he must sacrifice for creating the blade."

"He killed his wife" I said to her. I had heard the tale.

"He killed Nissa Nissa to forge Lightbringer. Their love was such that the blade caught fire when he plunged it into her heart. Even when not on fire, the blade was hot to the touch. He had finally created the weapon to kill the great other. We felt ashamed that we had forced a good man to commit such an act. It is the greatest shame of my people. But Azor seemed even more determined. He gathered as many men as he could and went north to aid Brandon Stark. The great battle for Dawn was fought. The weapon of Azor Ahai and strategies of Brandon Stark. the two defeated the army of the dead against all odds. Everyone knows this. But what isn't commonly known is that Azor nearly killed the night king. He injured him when they fought. Azor took a finger off of his hand. as soon as the night king realized that he was vulnerable, He retreated into the lands of winter. waited until the world would forget what he was or how to defeat him. Meanwhile, Brandon stark created the wall to keep them out. The wall is also built with blood magic. That's why it can keep them out. Children, Men and giants all gave their lives for each stone in the wall. It was truly an age of heroes." she said.

I let her have her quiet before i asked,"So, I need Lightbringer to kill him?"

"Yes. But you also need the one who can wield it." she replied.

"Can't I wield it?" I asked her. It would be ideal. I can get close enough to him without a battle.

"No. only a descendant of Azor Ahai, someone with his blood can wield it. It was created by blood magic. So, It is bound by his blood." she said. I looked at my own blade. It could only be wielded by someone who has my blood. not so dissimilar. But It was my own blood that was used in forging my blade. and he had used his wife's blood. How could it be tied to his line? I voiced my concerns and she said,"because his wife was also his sister. it was a custom of their people to often marry brother to sister."

"But Azor Ahai became the lord commander of the night's watch. He had no children", I said to her.

"He wasn't born a lord commander. He had a wife before the battle for dawn even began," she said to me.

"He had a child," I said to her with a smile on my face.

"Aye, he did. A daughter by the name of nissa, named after her mother," she replied.

"But her descendants could be anywhere. for all we know, Val is her descendant," i said.

"Its possible. But she did marry a man whose line you can trace even now. A man who was a great friend of her father's," she said with a smile.

"Brandon Stark," I said with a smile of my own. Perfect. I can definitely find a stark or two.

"So any stark will do?" I asked her.

"No. only a destined one can wield lightbringer, for their was a prophecy" she said to me.

of course there was a prophecy. It couldn't be that easy. I sighed,"what is the prophecy?"

"There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world," She said to me,"In this dread hour, a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him."

"We don't have time to wait for the prince that was promised to arrive. the night's king will reach the wall within a few moons," i told her. "you want me to hold the army of the dead at the wall until your prince arrives."

"I simply tell you what is foretold," she said. "what you do with this knowledge is up to you."

I sighed again. with more knowledge comes more headache. "Is that everything I need to know?" I asked her.

she seemed to hesitate and said,"there's more to the story but i don't think it is relevant to what you need to know."

"why don't you tell me anyway. You never know what knowledge will come in handy and when."

"As you wish. after nissa and Brandon Stark married, they settled in winterfell. They had 5 beautiful children. 3 boys and 2 girls. the youngest boy, Torrhen, went and joined the night's watch. During his time there, Azor trained the boy night and day. In sword and in magic. The boy dreamt of wielding the sword of heroes like his grandfather. But Brandon Stark and Azor had different plans for the blade. It will be hidden at winterfell until it was needed. The boy grew angry when he found out. He left the night's watch and the northern kingdom. He was the first deserter of the night's watch. It was only after he left that Azor wrote the vows for the night's watch. That's why they can't leave once they joined. The secrets that they possessed must remain secret. But the damage was done again. The boy returned to his grandfather's homeland, Valeria. With his knowledge of blood magic, the boy and his line grew more and more powerful. They tamed dragons and bound them to their lines. As did other several nobles houses that learned their secrets. over thousands of years, they became more powerful than any other power in the world. They enslaved and butchered men. They sacrificed thousands upon thousands of slaves to create their Valerian swords and their majestic cities. Until 400 years ago, the blood magic took its toll on the land. After sacrificing millions of people over the centuries, the Valerian freehold had become an unstable pool of magic. The world needed balance. And it regained that balance by wiping out the Valerian freehold. it is known as the doom when all the volcanoes in Valeria erupted and the earth opened up and swept all of Valeria into the sea." she finished.

we sat in somber silence. "so much death and destruction. millions dead. because we created that abomination. and when we tried to correct our mistake, we created an even bigger monster. Man with magic." she said. her back was turned to me but i could tell that she was crying.

I took my sword out and knelt in front of her.

"I swear a vow to you today. I will kill the night king or i will find the one who can and help him do so. I also swear to you that no one will ever find out what you said to me here today. not even my own children or loved ones."

she stared at me and nodded. we talked quietly for a while. they didn't know where the sword was hidden in winterfell or if it was still there or not. But I knew all i needed to know. the sword had a red blade and It was hot to the touch. there can't be that many swords like that running around the world. the Valerian swords were a lesser version of the lightbringer, made by sacrificing a slave. I also found out that ice, the stark ancestral sword was also created by Azor Ahai. It was his second attempt. He had given that sword to his only friend. At least it wasn't forged by killing a slave but a volunteer, I thought to myself. Only if the owners of these swords knew how they were made. I came out of my thoughts by reminding myself that I only needed to find one blade.

"Can't you just look through the trees and find out where the blade is?" I asked her.

"None of the children possess the gift. we can pool our strength and look across great distances in the present but we cannot access the memories of the weirwood. Only a greenseer can do that"

well there is that. I looked at her. she looked very sad and distant.

"Don't worry I'll find the blade and the one meant to wield it. If anything, I am great at tracking. if its still at winterfell, I will find it." I said to her.


	14. A new home

People can accomplish wonders when they are fighting for their survival. They can let go of their personal agendas, feuds, and come together like nothing else. They can fight off armies 10 times their own size. My people did the very same when we fought the vord queen for our survival. The freefolk had seen what was coming for them all at the battle of thenn valley. I could see it in their eyes. When I set out the plan for the city, they had gone to work like only people who have no other choice can. Even children were helping in whatever small ways they could.

There were no complaints or moaning. They were a hardy people who worked from dawn till dusk. They mined the stone and iron from the southern mountains and the mountains behind the city being built. Then the stone and iron was transported to the city. The mountains behind us also had some gold in them. But it had no use for us. We simply piled it to a side. Iron was more precious than gold at the moment. I had kept half of the giants at the city for moving the stones. Their power was crucial if i was going to build this city within time. They worked days and nights as did I.

But I could not work everywhere at the same time. So I had to prioritize my duties. As i figured the short term goals were to create a defensible position and arm the freefolk. So, I would craft the stones together and build them into squares as large as myself. The gates were the first ones created. The gates were all one 250 feet high piece of stone crafted together by me. they were so heavy that it took me and a hundred giants to put each gate up. And I only mean the one side of the gate. Not both sides. It took 5 giants to simply open the gate once it was operational. They were so wide that 10 men could walk abreast on top of them. At least no one will be ever be able to break into the city. Once the gates went up, It was all routine work on moving the stones to where we would be using them and I would craft the stones. Then the giants would move the stones to where they needed to be. Slowly, the city started taking shape.

After the gates were built, I could finally work on the city and weapons. For the city, I created pillars all around the city which supported the earthcrafted pavement that went atop them. the higher up i went the fewer the pillars got. But they got gradually taller as we went farther and farther in. But i simply lacked the time to make the city and the weapons. So, I had decided to split the duties with Alera. After I would earthcraft the base of a pillar, she would take over crafting the rest of the pillar. The freefolk did not understand the basics of how crafting worked. So, they never questioned it when the pillars started taking shape without my presence. They would place the mined stone atop it and Alera would do the rest. It took me all of 2 moons to create all the bases. After that i was able to focus on making weapons and alera making the city.

It was no surprise to find out that the freefolk had no smith with them. But even if they had a smith, It would be no help. It seemed that their steel was no match for the walker's swords. Only valerian steel worked against them. And nobody in the known world knew how to make that anymore. or so Brynden had told me. But i didn't need to make Valerian steel. I needed to make Aleran Steel, metalcrafted Steel. My old broken sword had killed that walker north of the wall. It was the closest weapon I could think of to equip the freefolk with.

Earth crafted stone was stronger than any mix of stone you could create. It could repair itself and last for millennia. It was near impossible to destroy as well. even with earthcraft. Just like that metalcrafted steel was stronger than regular steel. It always had been. even in Alera. And the only person who could make it here was me. So, I set myself to my task. The two ingredients required to make Steel are iron and coal. The iron was plenty in the southern mountains. But coal I had to find. Thank the furies for earthcraft or we would have been doomed. Earthcrafting proved useful again in finding the coal in the ground near the southern coastal mountain where the iron was found. I asked alera to pull the coal to the surface where it could be easily extracted.

The forge was the first thing i had created in the city. Even before the gates. We needed the tools to mine the stone, iron and coal. So i had created a forge in the heart of the city in the middle of the volcano. The earth crafted forge was the natural choice for the heat required being provided by the volcano. I had taken most of their "steel" and melted it to create a stronger metal. Iron when mixed with coal creates steel. But it is near impossible to get the exact mixture right. And even then impurities are hard to detect with the naked eye. But metal crafting goes beyond that. I was able to feel the metal even when melted and siphon out the impurities as we added more and more coal as necessary. As a last step, I would metalcraft the entire liquid metal to be used in weapons or tools.

I had created the molds for different weapons and tools with earthcraft. When the metal was ready, It was poured out into the molds to create the products. After the tools for the mining, the first weapons i had created were the hammers for the giants. The first one going to Mag, of course. I would prepare the metal and the giants would pour the metal into the molds. the beating and cooling was done by over a hundred strong young men I found among the freefolk. After the first moon, everything fell into routine. the city and the weapons started shaping up.

After Six moons, I decided to check on our friends north of the wall. I watercrafted to hardhome, frostfangs, thenn valley, last refuge but i found no trace of them. I tried reaching further into the lands of winter and i found them. All the dead simply standing and staring south with their cold blue eyes. As if the masters could see through their pets, they arrived to see me standing before them. one of the walkers threw a spear of ice at me and it passed through me as it would through water. I winked and said,"You are not the only one who knows some tricks." with that i cut the crafting.

I went outside to the guard and realized that i didn't even know his name.

"What is your name?" I asked him.

"Bael, Magnar", He replied.

"Like Bael the Bard?" I asked with a smile.

"Aye, Magnar", he replied with a smile of his own. He was about my age.

"Good name for one of the freefolk. now why dont you send a runner for mag, mance, styr and weaver", I said.

He nodded and strode off. I went back inside the tent and sat down next to shadow. He came nuzzling my hand and i felt his query as to why i was worried.

I sighed and reassured him that it was probably nothing. They arrived soon after. Last to arrive was weaver. After she arrived, I told them all what i saw north of the wall.

"Why haven't they moved south? I thought they would almost be at the wall by now" I asked them for their council.

"its good that they are not moving south. is it not?" styr asked.

"It could also mean that they are planning something. I dont like being in the dark", I told him.

they were all in deep thought. but it was weaver who broke the spell. "I think you stumped him" she said.

"He waited 10000 years to make his move and then you showed up and he failed. You almost killed him if you had the right blade"

"Aye that seems right" said mance. "If it weren't for you, we would all be dead and he would already be at the wall."

"Maybe maybe. But i dont think he will stop simply because i am part of the problem now", i said to them.

"No. But he will delay it until he is sure that he can kill you. or you are no longer a problem", weaver said.

They all stared at her. including me and shadow. then mag said what we were all thinking.

"what do you mean until he is no longer a problem?" he asked.

"Night king waited 10000 years to begin the second long night. He will not age and die. he has power over death. he could simply wait until Frost here is dead from old age and then move south. It will be like waiting for another moon for him after 10000 years." she replied.

It was even more quiet now than it had been after her earlier comment.

"So, he will wait another 100 years before moving south you think?" I asked her.

She stared at me for a while and said,"Do your people live for a 100 years?"

I could tell that she was curious and a little surprised.

"Unless I am killed by some other means, then yes. close enough to it at least. I dont know why you are surprised. according to you, you were alive during last long night", I told her.

"Yes, I was. But all my people are long lived. the men I remember, withered away in 40 or 50 years. hardly any made it past 60", she told me.

I thought about that for a while.

"Night king is just as old as you. so if you think i would most like perish in another 30 years, then so would he", I said to her.

She seemed to ponder it for a while and nodded.

"Best case, we have another 30 years or so. Worst case, he is planning something that none of us are aware off" I said to the room at large.

Then something occurred to me. "Didn't you say, you can see across great distances in the present? would you not be able to keep an eye on him?" I asked her. I mean i could keep an eye on him but i was stretched pretty thin as it was.

"we cannot look into the lands of winter. we can only look wherever the trees are. there are no trees in the lands of winter. not even dead ones. And there are other dangers of us spying on him", she said to me. she had said it to the room at large but the last was meant for me only. I eyed her for a while and thinking of all the implications of what she had told me.

I looked at all the others and said,"Nobody hears about this outside this tent. No one. I dont want the freefolk thinking that he is gone for another 10,000 years and start going back beyond the wall. For all we know the bastard is planning something. he could be at the wall tomorrow or in 30 years."

They all nodded back.

"Whatever time we have left, we are going to use it to prepare to meet him." I told them.

"Aye Magnar, Only a fool will go beyond the wall now. we forgot that he existed long time ago. But we remember now. we will prepare." Styr replied while others nodded.

"We will go wherever you say Frost. We owe you our lives anyway", rumbled mag.

"How many of the freefolk are properly armed now? with shield, sword, and spear", I asked mance.

" Around 15000," He said. too few. he must've seen it on my face because he continued,"But the production is getting better now. they know their work now. the first 3 moons were slow. but in another year or so, we will all be armed properly."

"A year we may not even have", I sighed. I shook my head.

"We should also train them on how to fight. I saw them fighting in the thenn valley. they are more a horde than an army." I said to them.

"Aye, but we have no sword master and you cannot train 160000 people by yourself", mance said to me. I smiled at him.

"Oh, I am not going to teach them how to fight one on one. they know how to stab good enough. I am going to teach them how to fight together as a legion. I am going to teach them how to defeat a horde that is 10 times their size if they work together", I told him.

There was a silence for a while. and then mance asked,"I was born in westeros and i have seen plenty of war and fight in my lifetime. But how exactly are you going to train them all to fight together?"

"Footwork", I told them with a smile,"Its all about footwork."

they were staring at me while i had started pacing my tent. As my father used to say, "A man doesn't have an idea. An idea has a man." Now i had a vague plan in front of me. After the freefolk were trained to be legionaries, they would prove formidable opponents even for the walkers. Even if i died. Properly equipped, with blade and mind. they could defeat the dead even after i am long gone.

"If they can become proper legionaries of my homeland, then the freefolk can defeat the walkers even on their own. without my help. one giant alone can't even open our own gates. but together a few hundred men can. Much can be accomplished when a thousand men work with one mind and one will", I said to them.

Mance and Styr looked at me as if they were still working on believing me. Finally styr said so. I laughed and put a hand on his sholders.

"Yes you can. Trust me, Styr. Since when have i lied to you?"

He seemed to think on that for a while. then i saw him square his sholders and look at me with steel in his eyes. "Aye Magnar. We will train with you. we will do whatever you want us to do. Make us legionaries."

I smiled. I had found my first officer.

Author's note

Sorry about the dealy. but life became hectic on this end. I will try to provide consistent updates from here on. Don't worry, i have not abandoned the story. I simply lacked the time to get back to it. I hope you like it. cheers.


	15. Legionaries, Pirates and Maesters

I stood atop the finished city. The city, I had named Alera after my homeland and after the great fury as well. She had after all done all the heavy lifting. Each earth-crafted stone was tied to Alera itself. The stones that will keep repairing themselves for millennia to come. A small mountain in its own right. No buildings were constructed yet. It was all bare slope in all directions. We had just finished making the pillars and laying the pavement blocks on top of the pillars. The pavement was 5 feet thick itself. So, it was no mean feat. I had pulled all the earth-craft tricks I knew to finish the city. My furies had helped greatly in moving the heavy stone around as well as the giants.

A year since the freefolk arrived. That's how long it took to finish the city. And it was still long from finished. But the foundation was laid. The top of the city was a 500 feet wide square. That's where i had wanted to build the main hall. And atop it will be the living quarters for myself and my family. I sighed as i thought about family. My own family must think me dead now. But I had no way of going back to them. I had tried. Truly tried but I could think of no way. I could try with alera again but I may not be able to find my home or come back to this land ever again. Besides, Alera had finally confirmed that she was no longer disintegrating slowly. It seems that being bound with the volcano and the city itself had done the trick. I had no right to risk her life or abandon these people. Until the legions are ready, they needed me.

Yes the legions. I looked down at the walls of the city to see the legionaries training. I had found the fittest men and women from the freefolk. True to his word, Styr had trained the hardest of them all. And any who questioned the training was dealt by him before it even got to me. They had to run a full circle around the mountains everyday to begin with. then they had to train as a legion.

Since they didn't know any letters and my language, I had to modify some of the terms for expedience sake. Each legion contained 5500 soldiers. It was further broken down into 10 companies. Nine out of ten companies contained 500 soldiers. Each further divided into 5 centuries of 100 soldiers. Every century was commanded by an office called centurion. The commander of the first being the most senior among the five. But the first company was twice the size than the rest. It contained 1000 soldiers. This one was larger than the others because it contained more trained, seasoned and specialized soldiers. Traditionally, first company had all the builders, smiths, and scouts. Freefolk had good trackers and scouts but they had no smiths or builders. So I decided to fill those companies with talents more common to the freefolk. The wargs. As i had come to learn, the blood of the first men carried strong magic in them which allowed a lot of them to bond with animals. Not too dissimilar to me. But their bond was a little different than mine was with shadow. Marat bond was deeper to the point that we both affected each other's abilities. But they had a loyal companion and could look through their eyes. So, they made a good portion of the first company.

Company was further divided into 5 groups of 200. First of these centuries was lead by the officer known as first spear. The highest ranking centurion in the legion. The other centurions of the first company being right behind him in command. The over all commander of the legion known as the Captain. Captain also had 2 tribunes under him. First one looked after making or breaking camp and the second to take care of the supplies and rations.

But for all that we had no cavalry since the freefolk had no more than a dozen horses. In order to compensate for the cavalry, I had decided to outfit the outside centuries of the legion differently. 18 centuries per legion. Their shield were nearly as tall as them. this would allow them to become a shield wall for the other legionaries by planting the shield in the ground. they were equipped with a spear and a gladius which was a short sword. There were plenty of complaints when we had given them the swords. Most complained that they were too short. But as they trained, they understood why they were there. Long swords were not ideal in fighting side by side as a unit. no line of the legion should break that you need to use a long sword. If the lines broke, you were lost or would suffer heavy losses at the least. The inner 32 centuries were equipped with round shields. These were lighter but big enough that you could shield yourself from a rain of arrows or defend yourself easier in a melee attack. These units provided greater maneuverability on the field. if the enemy provided an opening, these units could move forward and inflict the most damage in shortest time and retreat behind the shield wall again. Also the giants were evenly divided between the legions to counter the cavalry of the enemy if need be.

The training of the legionaries had effected every other aspect of our lives. we had to rotate between training soldiers and working on the city and the mines. But it was no problem since there was no immediate danger. I had been checking on the walkers at least once every moon. There was still no activity beyond the wall. So, the city was in no rush to being built. Even the metal working had taken shape according to the legions. I decided to create weapons and equipment one legion at a time. I would rather have some of them properly equipped and trained than all of them with a sword in their hands. So, I had halted the production of swords. Instead, we had started working on shields and armor. Once one legion was properly equipped, we would move on to the next. So far, we had trained 5 legions with another 3 not far behind. Once we were finished, we would have 18 to 20 legions. the rest of the freefolk were either too young or too old.

The sun was about to set when i decided to fly down to the trainees.

"That's enough for the day", I said to them. They visibly sighed in relief and groaned. I landed next to Styr and Mance.

"How are they coming along?", I asked them.

"They will be ready in another moon", Mance said to me as Styr nodded.

"Good. When they are ready, replace them with the next trainees like we did the last time", I told them.

"It will be done", Mance said.

"Another productive day. Keep this up and you wont need me to fight the walkers", I said with a smile to them both.

They laughed. I chatted with them for a while before saying my farewell for the day. I headed for my tent. I nodded to Bael before going in. Val was in there sitting on the floor and playing with the child I had rescued from beyond the wall. Val had been spending a lot of time with the child lately.

I kissed her as i patted the child's head a little. I went over to the water basin and started cleaning myself.

"Do you want children of your own? Is that why you play with him everyday?" I asked her.

She stiffened a little before saying,"My sister and I grew up by ourselves. I can barely remember my family's faces because they died when i was young. Dalla raised me. He doesn't have anyone either. He just reminds me of myself."

"Maybe we should raise him as our own then?", I asked her.

She turned to me with a smile on her face. She practically ran over to me and kissed me hard.

"That is what I want", she said to me,"Can we name him now?"

"What? Its been an year. No one has named him yet?", I asked her.

"No. freefolk dont name children until they are at least one year old since most don't survive", she told me. I thought about that for a while and went over to the child. He seemed excited to see me and I had barely heard him cry. I picked him up. He grabbed my finger with a strong grip.

"Every child in westeros will remember your name", I said to him. I heard Val laughing. I turned and she said,"how could you possibly know that? And he doesn't even have a name yet, my king."

I thought about that for a while. I hadn't meant to say what i said and I am usually more carefully with my words.

"My old sword master used to say that my family has a gift", I said to her. "Its not exactly prophecy but sometimes we just say things. And feel great changes or wars coming. And we have absolutely no control over it. It might be that or maybe its nothing at all."

She looked up at me as she came close to me and kissed me softly.

"If anyone can do that, It would be you", she said to me.

I laughed and said,"You seem to think that I can do anything."

"I haven't been proven wrong yet", she said to me. "What was your sword master's name?"

"Araris", I told her.

She took the child from me and said,"Araris Frost. Its a good name I think."

"Yes it is", I replied to her. The child was a happy one. He kicked and smiled. Maybe this was all the family I needed.

I woke up in the middle of the night. Someone was shouting right outside my tent.

"Bael, what is it?" I asked as i poked my head out of the tent.

"Bael is not here, Magnar. But something is going on at the water gate", another guard said to me.

"I am going to get dressed. Tell anybody who comes looking to wait", I said. He nodded and I disappeared inside the tent. I saw val looking up at me sleepily. I kissed her forehead and told her to go to sleep. Once i was dressed, I went outside the tent and took off. I landed near the western gate which the freefolk had named the water gate. I landed to find a lot of commotion going on. I saw Styr's bald head since he was taller than most and made my way over to him.

"What is going on?" I asked him.

He turned around surprised and said,"Magnar. Nothing you need to worry about. These men here came raiding. We killed most of them except these few who surrendered."

I looked and saw about 15 men who were sitting on the ground and bleeding. I also saw a good dozen bodies on the ground.

"Any of our men injured?" I asked Styr.

"Two dead and a few scratches but otherwise unharmed", he said to me. I nodded. As i made my way over to the captives, the freefolk just melted out of my way. I knelt in front of the one on the right and asked,"Who are you and why did you attack us?"

"Fuck you wildling. I aint telling ya shit", replied the one on the right. I took my sword and put it right through his heart. His mouth opened but no scream came out. I saw the shock on his face and others. Maybe he thought I would ask twice. I turned to the second man and said,"I dont like to repeat myself. so I will ask this last time. who are you and why did you attack us?"

He swallowed and replied,"My name is Erich and I am from the iron islands. We came to raid bear island. But along the way, we fell upon a smuggler's vessel. This vessel happened to be carrying a new maester to this city. When captain learned that we changed course. He thought it will be easy picking some salt wives here than at bear island." A spear wife slammed the butt of her spear in his back and said,"fuck you think we are, some southerner whores?" a few people laughed and I allowed it. We had lost two of our own. They needed to let of some steam.

"Is this everyone that came with you?" I asked him.

He looked around and shook his head.

"Where are the rest of them?" I said to him.

He quickly told me all he knew. They had made landing a little to the south of the city and made it over to the city by land. I admired their dedication to climb over the walls and sneak into the city. but the bastards had killed two of my men. I stood up and said to them all,"Wall or death?"

One by one they chose the wall. "Good. Then you can pay for the two lives you took by guarding us for the rest of yours."

I turned to Styr and said,"Send them to the wall with one of the centuries as an escort in the morning. Send Jax. He has a solid head on his shoulders. Tell him to escort them as if escorting cargo. In perfect formation. It will be good practice for them all."

"Aye Magnar", He said to me.

"Also keep them under guard. I dont want someone to kill them. I am going to kill the rest of the fuckers on the ships", I said to him. I left Styr to his duties as I started walking towards the wall. I didn't want those bastards to see me fly. I had landed some distance from them earlier and they had been surrounded by the freefolk. It was unlikely that they saw me earlier. When I was far enough from them, I veiled myself and took to the air.

I found them a few miles south from the city. I saw their row boats pulled onto the shore where they had made landing. So, they couldn't be too far out from here. I found them soon after. There were four ships with a good amount of crew still left to man the ships. I flew closer to them and decided to land on the biggest ship's nest. This one will most likely be the one of their captain's. The man's head hit the deck soon after. They all looked up at me and started shouting. A man came running out from below deck and stared at the head on the deck. Another man said,"Captain" and pointed up at me. I smiled and swung down from one of the ropes.

"Your men killed two of my men", I said to him as I landed opposite him. I saw the men from other ships throw planks and such to connect to this ship. He shrugged as if he didn't have a care in the world,"It is the way of the world."

"I will give you this one time to choose the wall or else you are all going to die", I said to him. He laughed at that, as did his men. I was surrounded now. Two men had crossbows trained at me.

"I will give you this wildling. You have got balls. But you are outnumbered and surrounded. You should have brought more men with you", He said to me with a smile. He was missing a few teeth.

"I am enough for you lot", I smiled back at him. I heard the twang of the crossbows and felt the metal charging at me. I had enough air pulled into me already. I quickly stepped out of the way of one bolt and cut the other in half with my sword. The one bolt that had missed me smashed into the ship's railing with a loud wrenching of wood. I smiled at the captain as the fighting began. I saw two men rush at me from the side. I pulled even more air in and rushed forward. My sword swept right and left quickly as i passed through them in the middle. Both men fell clutching their throats but i paid them no mind. I went at the next man who had an ax. He swung at me from high. I side stepped and put my sword through his mouth and the back of his head. One by one I went through a dozen of his men. Three of his men seem to corner me and decided to come at me at the same time. I pushed the left one's sword aside with my hand while also parrying the middle man's sword into the one on the right. On the back swing, my sword went through the neck of the middle man and then the one on the left. I turned and swept the desperate swing of the last man with a lazy turn of my wrist and brought my sword crashing onto his skull. As the man fell, I looked at the men who seemed to be keeping away from me.

"You are good with the blade", said the captain. He took a big ax from one of the men while staring at me. He looked at his men and said,"We are ironborn. We know the true way. We know the iron way. We fear no greenlanders. Now stop pissing yourselves and lets kill this fucker." His men seem to find courage in their captain and raised their weapons once more. "Good", I thought to myself. They killed my men. They deserve to die. Suddenly, my blood boiled. I felt a rage so primal and righteous that I forgot about everything else. It was all about this need to hurt, maim and kill. I went through them as a predator goes through the herd. I kicked the captain in the chest and threw him into the ones behind him. I will make him watch as I kill his pack. Only then will I end it for him. I jumped and brought my sword down at the man to my left. My sword became a blur as I parried one sword after another. But every blow from my sword was to their heads or necks. Within moments they were all dead except for two. The captain and one man holding a crossbow with shaking hands. I could smell his fear. He reeked of it. I took a step towards him and he fired the crossbow. I swept the bolt aside with my sword. He fell to his knees and said,"Mercy" as I reached him.

I brought my sword straight down at his skull and felt his blood splatter across my face. I turned and saw the captain staring at me. He was leaning on the railing and clutching his head. He was bleeding. Last time he had cross blades with me, I took his ear off. I had nearly split his head in half. I approached him as he seemed to gather himself up. He was weak and wounded. He swung his ax at me and I swept it aside easily before I buried my sword in his guts. I looked into his confused eyes as all the life went out of them and threw him over the railing. I looked around me and saw nothing but dead bodies. I could feel nothing but satisfaction. I stood there for a while as my breathing got normal and I lost the blood lust.

Suddenly, I felt like I was gonna be sick. I had deliberately killed these men. I could have killed the captain and demoralized them. They would have surrendered and chosen the wall. But instead, I had given them no choice. I sat on the railing as I gathered my thoughts. It has to be the Marat bond. I was feeling the rage and the pride of my direwolf, Shadow. After spending a few moons with him in the beginning, I had always been on the move. The past year had been the first time that we had truly spent with each other and bonded deeply. I knew that he would affect me in some way. But I had been mostly concerned about eye color and sense of smell and such. I had never truly contemplated the extent of this bond. From all the tales I had heard about the direwolves, they were some of the best predators of the north. Only one worse than them were the walkers. The direwolves were strong as a horse and as big. They were proud but most of all they were pack hunters. They believed in family. The freefolk had been our pack. That would explain why I had felt such rage. It seems that I had inherited more than just his vision and smell. The ones in the city had surrendered, so I had felt no rage in killing them. But apparently if provoked, I was like to just go into a killing frenzy. I shuddered. It felt like as if I was no longer in my own control. It had sneaked up on me. I had not been in a fight since the fight with the night king. I will have to keep this rage in check the next time or I might just loose myself again. I shook my head. As bad as it was, these were not decent men. They had come looking to kill and rape. Some part of me still growled with satisfaction that I had avenged two of my pack.

Something I would have to speculate about later. I went below deck and found some men chained. They looked like slaves.

"Are you Iron Islanders?" I asked them.

"No. We were transporting this man here to the city of the wildlings when the iron islanders fell on us and took us captive", one man said. I studied him. He certainly didn't have the same accent as the ones I had killed. And He looked to be dressed better than those too. I walked over to the other man. the one he had said that he was transporting. He was a young man. Maybe in his twenties. He was wearing a chain around his neck. He certainly looked like a maester.

"What is your name?" I asked him.

"Garin. My lord", He said to me.

"You are a maester assigned to the new city of the north? Are maesters usually this young?", I asked him.

"I am the maester assigned to the new city. And the age thing is a long story, my lord", He said to me. I eyed him for while before taking my sword and breaking his hands free.

"I am Alric Frost. Lord of the city of Alera", I said to him.

"I cannot stretch how pleased I am to meet you, my lord", He said with a weak smile.

I smiled back at him and said,"good. Now make yourself useful and find the keys for this lot to set them free." He nodded and went over to the stairs and took some keys off of the nail on the wall. I went to the deck. Soon after they had all joined me on deck. The last to come up was the maester. They had all gone quiet when they saw the bodies on the deck.

"Thank you, my lord. If it wasn't for you, my men would be sold into slavery", the same man I had spoken to earlier said to me.

I nodded back at him,"What is your name?"

"I am Davos, my lord. I am a smuggler", He said to me.

"And how did you come to be carrying my maester to be here?", I asked him.

The maester stepped up at that and said,"When I was assigned to your city, I decided to seek a ship north from there rather than ride all the way to the north. Not many were willing to come this far north for a simple transport. But Davos here agreed to bring me north for some coin."

"More like you found out I was a smuggler and blackmailed me into giving you a passage. A passage that almost got me and all my men killed", Said Davos glaring at the maester.

"Yes...umm... that is the occupational hazard for you, I am sure", Maester replied looking rather sheepishly. I laughed at that. My maester had blackmailed his way to my city and nearly got himself killed.

"You will fit perfectly with the freefolk, maester. Now Davos, Which one of these ships is yours?" He pointed to the one on the furthest right.

"Good. You can take your ship and leave in peace. But before you leave, please help me bring these ships into my city", I said to him.

"Its the least I can do my lord", He said to me.

His men were expert seamen. It took them no time at all to get all the ships ready and moving. They threw all the ironborn into the sea. I stayed with Davos on his own ship and we swiftly made it to the city. the sky had started to lighten up. sunrise wasn't far off. I saw the maester and everybody else look at the unfinished city with wonder.

"You are more than welcome to stay here a while if you like", I said to Davos. He looked at me for a while and said,"You honor me my lord. But I should get back south. There's money to be made."

I got an idea then and said,"If you can find some grain and seeds that you want to sell, Come here and you will find a warm welcome."

"You want to trade with a smuggler, my lord", said Davos with a smile.

I shrugged and said,"I doubt many others want to do business with wildlings. If you are not afraid to make the trip again, I will make it worth your while."

He seemed to ponder it then nodded. "Grain and seeds. I will remember. Anything else?"

I thought about it for a while and said,"Leather and obsidian"

He nodded and we shook hands. There was only one row boat left. They used it to transport me and the maester to the city. The maester had brought with him some books and some ravens. They had seen us approach from the wall. Before we even made landing, Mance came out with an entire century. They had marched in perfect order. Good to see that the training wasn't in vain.

I stepped off the boat and said,"This is our maester. Help him unload his stuff and carry it into the city. Send some men south along this coast. there are 5 more rowboats that the ironborn used to make landing. Bring those here as well."

"It will be done", Mance said as he nodded.

"Good. Do we have any men who know how to handle a ship?", I asked Mance as the men started unloading and taking the maester's belongings to the city.

"Handle a ship?", He asked me.

"Yes. We have three ships that the ironborn used to come here. Since the ironborn are dead or going to the wall, we now have three ships", I told him.

"Huh...umm...I think the freefolk that lived near hardhome used to fish using some rafts and such. But freefolk had no ships", He replied. I was disappointed until one of Davos' men who had rowed us back spoke up.

"The scariest part is the sea. If they can fish using a raft then they understand the sea and they understand the waves. Ship is not all that complicated once you figure out the rigging."

I stared at him. They were preparing to go back to their ship now since all the belongings had been unloaded.

"If anyone of you can stay and teach my men, It would be a great help in feeding the freefolk", I said to him. I mean, we weren't starving but we weren't eating too much either. Any other people would be starving by now. The freefolk had learnt to survive north of the wall with their small livestock, hunting and fishing. If not for that, we would be starving. But it was still a sorry situation that I intended to fix.

He turned to his companions and said,"Tell Davos, I am staying to teach this lot. He can pick me up when the next time he comes this way."

His companions simply nodded and put the boat back into the water.

I shook his hand and said,"Thank you. What is your name?"

"Alfyn, My lord. But my friends call me Al", he said to me.

I shook his hands again.

"I am Alric Frost. Welcome to Alera, Al", I said to him.


	16. The summons

Since the ironborn raid a moon ago, I wanted to find out the extent of my bond with Shadow. I didn't want the effects to sneak up on me like they did during the fight with the Ironborn. So, I had spent that entire time hunting with Shadow and training officers. I practiced swordplay daily with Styr, Mance and some of the other officers of the legions. This way, I was able to practice and teach them at the same time. They were coming along well. In order to find out the effects of our bond, I had to ditch all the furycraft while practicing. My brother and I had already been different from other Alerans due to our Marat heritage. We were a little more graceful, agile and fast. But the real difference had been our senses of sight and smell. We were far better than any Alerans in those fields.

But now with my bond to Shadow sealed, I was changed even more. From my observations so far, I could smell people to the degree that I could tell their emotions or intentions. I could also distinguish between scents of people, land and game. My last hunting sessions with Shadow had been entirely based on my sense of smell. But the people were more interesting. They smelled different if they were experiencing different emotions. Same man would smell slightly different if he were scared or lying.

My eyesight had also improved to the point that I could count the hair on someone's head from a good distance by starlight. The nights weren't as full of terror as they had been before. In fact, they felt even better than day. Because I knew that I had an advantage over almost everyone. I could smell and see them better than they could me.

Another effect that I had found out from our hunting sessions was my hearing. My hearing was so acute now that I could hear a lot more than my human ears were used to. While aircraft allowed me to listen to a conversation or noise from one spot or direction, the bond allowed me to hear every little cricket in the wolfswood during our hunt. I could hear the heartbeat of anyone from a few hundred feet away. But my human instincts were more an obstacle than advantage during our hunts. I kept trying to control my abilities in the beginning. But later I found that it was good to simply let my instincts take over during the hunt. But I had been afraid that I would lose control like on the ships. When I did decide to follow my instincts, I discovered another change from the bond. I had become more agile. I moved faster and more surefooted than before. And I was half Marat. It made my skill with sword even more deadlier. I had no way to be sure since I could no longer duel with my old sword master. But It felt right to me. When mixed with my newly gained senses, my opponents simply were too disadvantaged. Their body language, their scent and their emotions told me how they were going to move even before they did.

The only aspect of this that still scared me was the blood-lust. I was not able to replicate the experience without an enemy present. But I was hoping that the second time around I would be better prepared since I was aware of the blood-lust now. Even with all these changes, the biggest surprise came from Shadow. On one of our hunts, We tracked down a rather large elk. Once the time for the kill came, I felt Shadow break his neck with an earthcrafted jerk. I was so surprised Shadow could furycraft that I fell onto my ass in the middle of wolfswood. Once the shock wore off, I tried teaching Shadow more about furycraft to no avail. But he was a direwolf not a human. He simply did not care. He was entirely driven by his instincts. So, he was able to use some furycraft by pure instinct rather than choice. From my study of his furycraft, I summarized that he was able to perform internalized furycraft only. For example, he could pull certain amount of earth and air into himself when necessary. But He couldn't externalize the crafting. He couldn't create a house for himself with earthcraft. Because why would he? He was a direwolf. What need did he have for something like that. He did not understand it and he did not want to understand it. Similarly, he couldn't use aircraft to fly but only to make himself a little more faster when chasing game. I had no idea yet as to how many different types of crafting he could access. But if I had to guess, I would say the whole spectrum since he was accessing furycraft through my own furies. I would simply have to wait and see. Time will reveal the secrets of this bond. That's what the bond was after all. Learning about each other.

I came out of my thoughts as I heard a loud yell. I watched Styr and Jax practice as I sat on the wall. Styr had the strength but Jax was a better fighter. I saw them dance back and forth. In the end, Styr over extended which resulted in Jax disarming him.

"I have told you so many times not to over extend. You rely on your strength too much. Work on your footwork and balance. Or you will lose your head one day", I said to him.

"Aye, Magnar", He said to me rubbing his arm.

"We are done for the day. Rest and learn from your mistakes. More you sweat here, the less you will bleed on the battlefield", I said to them.

They all went their way after that. I saw the maester approaching. I sighed. He had been trying to find an audience with me since he arrived. But with my hunts with shadow and training the legions or officers, I had no time. But I could only delay this for so long.

"My lord, I hope that you have time enough for me today?" He asked me.

"I will speak with you after I have had supper", I said to him.

I waved Jax over and said,"Send word to the chiefs to meet me at my tent after they have eaten."

He nodded and left along with the maester.

I reached my tent to find Val and Araris as usual. I kissed them both and started cleaning myself up. After we had all eaten, Bael spoke up from outside the tent.

"Magnar, the chiefs are here along with the maester", He said.

"Let the chiefs in", I told him.

Mag, Mance, Styr and Weaver soon came in and settled down. I sealed the conversation.

"I asked you here because of the maester. He is an outsider. So, it would be good if we all understood on how to treat him", I said to them.

They all nodded.

I met their eyes one by one and said,"Let the maester in, Bael" after breaking the crafting.

He came in and bowed,"My lords."

Styr snorted and the maester eyed him.

"They dont like people who bow or kneel too much. They consider it a weakness", I told him. He nodded.

"My Lord, I simply wanted to properly introduce myself", He said.

I made polite introductions with everyone and asked,"Tell me maester, are all maesters as young as you?"

"No, My lord. As I said on the ships, there is a bit of a story to that", He said. I waved my hand for him to continue.

"Umm.. I was born in king's landing. I dont know my parents. I grew up in flea bottom. When I was about 10 namedays old, I got into some trouble. The maester asked the king to send me to the citadel. He thought that I had a sharp mind. And I would make a good maester. So, I was sent to the citadel. I studied there for over a decade and earned my links. But I must admit that I am not a full maester", He said.

Mance sat up straight at that and said,"What do you mean? If you are not a full maester, how come you are wearing a full chain?"

He sighed and said,"I have earned most of the links myself but not all. When you are at the citadel, you have to remain celibate. But most maester's are not. They all have women who frequently visit them. Few moons ago, I made the mistake of sleeping with the archmaester's favorite. Before I knew it, I was told that I was a full maester and sent here."

I thought about that for a while before saying,"Few moons ago, you said. Why did it take so long? If that was the reason, they would have shipped you here the very next day."

"Yes, my lord. I have been thinking about the same thing", He said. He hesitated for a while before saying,"We found out when you were allowed south of the wall. There was a lot of gossip. Whether the king would demand lord stark's head for allowing it. Or who would be sent as the new maester to the wildlings. But if I had to guess then the king had stopped the citadel from sending a maester until the matter was settled between lord stark and the king. Or you wouldn't have waited as long for a maester. That is until they had a half trained maester. One they wanted to get rid of. I bet the king got a good laugh from it when they asked for his approval."

Everyone was quiet after his explanation with the exception of Araris making his usual attempts at talking. I picked him up and eyed the maester. He had not lied. I would have been able to tell with my watercrafting and sense of smell. And Shadow didn't think that he was untrustworthy either.

"It isn't as bad as I had feared. This might be a blessing in disguise. Tell me. Who do you owe your loyalty to?", I asked him.

"You, my lord", He said quickly.

I eyed him for a while before saying,"Good. But remember this, maester. If you ever betray me, the world isn't big enough for you to run and hide. Or any others you might owe your allegiance to." Shadow picked up his head from where he was lying and stared at him alongside me.

He swallowed and nodded.

"Since you are not a full maester, what do you know? If I am to assign you duties then I would know your abilities", I said to him.

He nodded quickly and said,"I know my letters and numbers well, my lord. I also earned my teaching link. So, I can teach your children to read and write. Other than that I have my ravenry, history, construction, steel, coin, poison and healing links."

Mance spoke up at that,"That's only half the chain. So, you are saying that you know nothing about anything else?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I know a little bit about almost anything. But I am next to useless in politics and warcraft", he replied.

I chewed on that as Araris played with a wooden horse that I had made for him. I stood up and passed Araris to Val.

"It isn't as bad as you think, Mance. They sent us someone that they thought would prove useless to us. But in their ignorance, they also sent us someone that they disliked and wronged. If Garin here proves himself loyal, we can definitely work with him. I know all about war and playing politics. He knows most of everything else", I said as I nodded to myself.

"So. What do you think of the city so far, maester?", I asked him.

"Archmaester sent me here thinking that I would be living in huts for the rest of my life while freezing to death. This is beyond anyone's wildest dreams. I think that the archmaester would shit himself if he saw where I was now. ", He said.

That earned a few laughs. The maester then said, "I also noticed that you were training your men here for war. I will be able to better assist you if I knew who you were preparing to fight."

It got uncomfortably quiet after that.

"Its better to be prepared than sorry. I am simply teaching them how to fight together as a proper army rather than a horde", I said to him. He nodded but I could tell that he wasn't convinced. He smelled curious.

"Enough of that. Is there anything else you have to say?", I asked him.

"No, my lord. But my tent should be closer to yours if I am to ably serve you. And also we should send a raven to Winterfell", He said to me.

"Styr here will see to your tent being moved but why do we need to send a raven to Winterfell?", I asked him.

"To tell them that you have received a maester since they wrote on your behalf to the citadel. It would be impolite not to inform them", he said. I gave him my permission and dismissed everyone.

The maester indeed turned out to be very useful. He had brought some maps with him as well as some books. He had a very good knowledge of the history of westeros and its ruling houses. Every day he would walk with me and we would talk about a different house of the kingdoms. It had been 10 days since I finally allowed myself to trust the maester. We were standing on the outer wall and observing the legionaries being trained.

"You have a formidable army here, my lord", he said to me.

I eyed him and said,"I am sure that it seems that way to you."

"I am not well learned in warcraft. But was my observation wrong, my lord?", he asked me.

"Yes. They are all green troops including their commanders. They have no real experience in fighting as a legion or commanding a legion in the battle. On top of that, we dont have the rations to support a sizable force on the march. What is the point of an army if they are just going to starve to death?", I said to him

He seemed a little shaken at that. I sighed and said,"They will do fine to defend this city for now. But they are long way from being proper legionaries. All they have now is the training and proper footwork. But they need rations. They need experience. Most of all, they need proper gear. The armor they are wearing right now is tied together with bits of strings and furs. We dont have enough leather to properly equip them yet."

The maester nodded and said,"A common problem in the north from what I know. Biggest kingdom of all but sparsely populated. Except for white harbor, most places in the north barely manage to get by."

"I have been meaning to talk to you about this anyway. All the other chiefs and officers are smart enough but they are not very well learned. I want to show you something", I said to him as I started walking down the stairs. I led him to the western gate leading under the city. There were four entrances near all the main gates leading to under the city. As we entered, I heard him whisper,"By the gods."

He was openly staring at the wide pillars disappearing up into the darkness.

"I cant even imagine how you built this place in one year, my lord", He said to me.

I nodded and moved towards the center of the city where the forge was. He followed close behind me.

"What are these torches made of, my lord. They are nothing that I recognize", He said motioning towards the torches that were on the pillars. "Firecraft", I thought to myself. But I said to him,"That's not what you need to worry about."

As we were passing the Forge, he stopped dead in his tracks. I saw him staring at the forge with wide eyes. Then he looked back at me and said,"The volcano is active. But our records show that it was dead or dying. This is a fully active volcano, my lord. And you are using it to make steal? You have no idea how dangerous it can be. Even Valeria was wiped out by volcanoes, my lord. You cannot live here. Sooner or later, this volcano will erupt and take this city with it."

I smiled at him and said,"Don't worry about the volcano. I know volcanoes better than anyone. It will not erupt. Besides, dont you like living in the warmth of the volcano? Why did you think the pavement of the city was so warm? Its an ideal place in the north to live."

I started moving again without waiting for him to follow. He hurried up to me soon after.

"If that is not what you wanted to show me then what is it, my lord?", he asked. His voice had gone a little quite and I could smell some fear on him.

"That", I said pointing directly in front of us.

He squinted and said,"I beg your pardon, my lord. But I see nothing."

I had to remind myself that his eyesight is not as good as me and said,"You will see soon enough."

He stopped dead in his tracks again as he saw what I wanted to show him. There, by the eastern gate near the mountains, was all the gold that we had found. It was piled up all around the entrance to under the city.

"Pure gold. We found it in the mountains behind the city while we were mining for stones", I said to him.

He was still staring. I saw him collect himself with some effort and said,"My lord, there is gold here to make more than a million dragons."

"Good. Maybe we can feed our people with it. Besides there's more in the mountains still", I said to him. He was visibly excited.

"I was hoping that you would be able to figure out what to do with this. You do have your coin link, dont you?", I asked him.

He nodded as he swallowed.

"I do, my lord. I can manage your money but I cannot create money for you. You need a goldsmith if you ever want to coin all this gold", He said to me.

I sighed and said,"I have enough to worry about as it is. This is your headache now."

He nodded and said,"I will try to contact the Iron bank."

I headed back out the same way we had come and the maester quickly followed behind me. Once we reached back, I found Jax standing there.

"Magnar, Bael told me to inform you that the maester's raven has returned from Winterfell", He said.

I nodded to him and we made our way back to our tents. I went over to my tent as the maester made his way to his own. I was still cleaning myself up when Bael announced,"Magnar, the maester wants to see you."

"Let him in", I said. The maester came in clutching a little scroll in his hand. He looked a little nervous.

"Lord Stark has written back to you, my lord", He said to me. He smelled of fear again. Even more than he had when he discovered the volcano was active. That was curious.

"What does it say?", I asked him.

"That he is happy that you have finally gotten your maester. But also that you have been summoned south by the king. There is a tourney happening at Harrenhall and the king told lord Stark to bring you along. The king wants to meet you personally", He answered quickly.

"Why does that scare you, maester?", I asked him.

"Because the king is mad, my lord", He said to me.


	17. A Trip South

Lord Stark's message fell like a rock in a pond. It disrupted our peaceful routine of day to day life. I did not blame him since he had no control over the king. After the maester informed me of the mad king, I had called my chiefs again. The maester explained to everyone present about the mad king. They all agreed that this could be a trap for me. An easy way to kill me when I am surrounded by southerners. Or at least that must have been the king's intention. They didn't know what I was capable of. So, Mance suggested that I take some guards with me. He assured me that his concern wasn't for me but for the freefolk. The legions were not ready and until then they would need me if the war for dawn came. He said the last part in the old tongue so that the maester would not understand him. I smiled at his way of persuading me. He had gotten to know me well over the year. I had told them that more guards would simply slow me down. But the maester suggested that it would not since I would be travelling with the Starks. He also said that it was expected of my station since I was a ruling lord of the kingdom. Since I could see no flaw in their logic, I conceded to their demands. Impressions were as good as an armor of steel after all. In Alera, the furycraft was responsible for a man's stature and image rather than guards. But new world new rules. Mance had wanted me take an entire century but I had shot that down right away. We did not have that many horses. It would have to be men who could travel on horseback. I was not walking the length of the continent on foot pace. The maester and the chiefs agreed on five guards in the end. I told Mance to find the men suitable to the task and have them ready at dawn.

So, here we were huddled around a fire deep in the wolfswood on our way to Winterfell. I looked around at the sleeping five guards that had come along with me. I had taken the first watch since I had metal craft to rely upon. It seemed to me that Mance had chosen them well. They were all centurions in the newly trained legions. Their abilities certainly made for fine guarding duties. Soren, Errok, and Harl were all over 7 feet tall. They certainly made an intimidating figure alone. But together, they would give the bravest man in seven kingdoms a pause. The other two were Bael and Jax. I figured Mance chose them for their swordsmanship and the others for their power. Bael, Jax, and Soren were equipped with swords while Errok and Harl carried war hammers. Apart from their preferred weapons, they all carried a gladius with them as did I. Training in the legions had done them good. They had brought their armor and shields with them too. A good soldier is always prepared.

I woke them up as it started getting lighter. I wanted to make it to Winterfell around midday. They ate the stag we had hunted last night and I started breaking camp. I saddled the horses and secured our belongings on the horses while waiting for them to finish.

Once they had finished eating, I put out the firecarfting with a little effort. I picked up my sack from the ground and we started riding towards Winterfell. Shadow came out of the trees a little while later and joined us. My horse shied away from Shadow but I kept him steady. It was only natural that the horses were nervous around Shadow. He was as big as them now. We had made an excellent pace. Late in the morning, Winterfell came into view. We went around the wall to the front of the castle and rode up to the wall. Shadow decided that he did not want to be inside the walls. So, he took off into the woods for the night. He preferred the outdoors. It was his natural element. We walked up to the gate and the same old grizzled guard came out.

"Frost", He said to me.

"Cassel. Lord Stark is expecting me", I told him.

He nodded and waved for me to follow. I took the sack of the horse and gave the reins over to Bael who lead the horses away.

"Lord Stark was waiting for you to arrive. You will all most likely start travelling south tomorrow morning", he said to me.

I had figured as much since the message had implied as much. That's why we had traveled as fast as we had. My maester told me that Winterfell was one of the farthest castles from king's landing. So, the king's raven had arrived pretty late as it was.

I followed Cassel in to the main keep. He took me to the great hall where we entered to find Lord Stark sitting in his chair with Brandon and the maester at his sides. There were some guards standing by the walls. A few men were standing in the middle of the floor. As one of the men moved, I saw the chains on their hands.

Lord Stark stood up and said,"You are guilty of attacking the north. You have the choice of the Wall or the block." There was steel in his voice and his steel colored eyes were as hard as ice. The men chose the wall one by one.

"Come, Lord Frost", said Lord Stark as he passed by me. I quickly fell into step behind him.

We continued making small talk as we went through the main keep and arrived at Lord Stark's solar. He went in first with Brandon and maester. I followed them.

Lord Stark sat down in his usual chair and said,"I heard that you got into some trouble with the Ironborn too."

"Aye, my lord. They attacked us a moon ago", I said to him. He lifted his eyebrows at that and said,"Yes, I received a raven from the wall about the Ironborn you sent to the wall."

I nodded and said,"They fell upon the vessel carrying my maester. When they discovered about the freefolk, they thought it would be easier picking up some salt wives. The spearwives proved too much for them." I finished with a smile. Brandon laughed and even the maester cracked a smile.

"I sent them to the wall. The rest of them died either fighting the spearwives at the city or me at the ships", I told them.

"Ships?" Lord Stark asked.

"Aye, my lord. I killed the Ironborn that were waiting with the ships. There were four but one of them belonged to the man who was transporting my maester. So I gave his ship back to him and took over the remaining three ships. We are currently using them to fish", I said to him.

He thought about that for a while and then smiled.

"You weren't joking when you said you could handle them. Well, I am glad. Its about time we took the west coast back from the damned Ironborn", He said. Brandon was chuckling.

"We will leave first thing in the morning. So, have your men be ready at first light. Brandon here will make sure that you have everything you need for the night", he said.

"Thank you, my lord. But I wanted to show you something", I said as I glanced at my sack. Lord Stark's eyes followed mine and he nodded.

I put the sack on the table and opened it.

"Is that?" the maester began.

"Yes", I said before he could finish.

"But how?" he asked looking bewildered.

"We were mining the stone from the mountains to build the city and discovered gold in some of them", I explained.

Lord Stark swept a hand over the gold. I could tell that he wasn't believing his own eyes. The maester and Brandon both kept asking me questions about the gold. But I could practically see the wheels turning inside Lord Stark's head. North wasn't particularly rich. They barely survived winters from what my maester told me. It was the primary reason why the north was so less populated compared to rest of the kingdoms. I could see the possibilities going through Lord Stark's head. Then I suddenly felt a small twinge of fear coming from him.

"No one outside this room can know about this", he said to everyone.

"But why father?" asked Brandon.

"Because the king sees plots to overthrow him behind every shadow. He already thinks that we let Frost and his people through the wall to increase our levies. The levies he thinks we will use against him. Why did you think he asked for Frost to come south? When he finds out that we have found gold in the mountains as well? No one will be able to make him see reason", He finished.

Everyone got quiet after that. The king was mad. It seemed a reasonable calculation to me.

"We can keep this quiet for now. But the reason I brought this with me is because I need some spending gold. I have none. I can't trade this gold for goods and services", I said to lord stark. He nodded and thought about it. The maester seemed to pick up on my line of thought and spoke up,"We dont have a goldsmith here either. So, we wont be able to use this gold anytime soon ourselves. While this gold is good enough to make about a thousand dragons, we cannot offer you that much for it."

I smiled to myself. I knew that he would bite the bait. It was too good an opportunity to pass for him and show to Lord Stark his worth. I had no intention to ask for that much to begin with. But since he opened the floor for bargain, I asked,"How much can you give me?"

He seemed to be thinking quick and said,"We will need the metals to be mixed with the gold to make the coin. Not to mention the pay for the goldsmith. A hundred dragons is all we should pay for this gold, my lord." I had a feeling that he addressed lord stark as if he had remember him at the last moment.

"I would have given it to you for free, Lord Stark. But I do need the coin", I told Lord Stark who nodded.

"Very well, maester give Lord Frost a hundred dragons and put this away in the treasury as well", he said pointing at the gold. The maester quickly picked up the gold and started heading out. I sensed a great deal of satisfaction coming from the maester.

I followed Brandon out as we left lord stark to his solar. After receiving my gold from the maester, we headed out to the blacksmith. It wouldn't do to travel before the king in shabby armor or clothing. First impression go a long way.

"My lords", the smith said with a deep bow when we entered his workshop.

"How long would it take you to put leather strapping on six sets of armor and how much?" I asked him.

"A day, my lord and one dragon", he said to me. I took two dragons out and gave them to the smith.

"There's another two for you if you can have them ready by first light tomorrow", I said to him. His eyes glinted and promised me that the armor will be ready. With that we headed back towards the courtyard. I saw a good twenty Stark soldiers practicing with their swords.

"Care for a bout, Frost?" asked Brandon with his cocky smile.

I laughed and said,"Maybe some other time. I am tired from the journey as are my companions."

Brandon nodded and said,"Lets find your companions then. I would be a poor host if I let my guests go hungry."

We found Cassel who led us to where my guards were staying. Brandon introduced himself to all of them. They all nodded back at him and he arched an eyebrow.

"They dont like bowing or kneeling even to me. They consider it a weakness. They follow strength not curtsies", I told him.

He nodded back and said with a smile,"I am getting more and more curious about how you managed to become their king."

I shrugged and said,"Like I said last time, its a long story." I told Bael to take the armor to the smith and then get something to eat. I also gave him two dragons to give to the smith in the morning when picking up the armor. Cassel said that he will show them to the smith and the kitchens.

"All done?" asked Brandon. I nodded.

"Good. Now lets go and find some ale and food", He said. I followed him back into the main keep. I ate alongside Lord Stark's family. Little Benjen was a little sad that he was not going to the tourney. But Lord Stark told him that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. Since Brandon and Lyanna were coming south with us, he had to be that Stark. Lady Lyanna seemed a little anxious as well. But I knew better than to pry into the affairs of a lady. Brandon on the other hand was Brandon. He seemed to control his behavior in front of his father. But as soon as Lord Stark retired for the day, he was teasing and laughing along with his siblings. It was easy to tell how close the Stark children were to each other. It made me feel homesick to be honest. Or maybe it was the ale that was making me miss my family. The night got more and more blurry as the time passed.

I woke up to Bael shaking me.

"I'm up. I'm up", I said to him as I tried opening my eyes. I still felt a little drunk. I should have never listened to Brandon. I sighed to myself. I was going to pay the price of last night all day today. Bael helped me get dressed and soon we left for the main hall.

I found Lord Stark breaking his fast with lady Lyanna, Benjen and a red eyed Brandon. He must be feeling just as horrible as me because he didn't even make a single jape for the entire meal. I drank an entire flagon of water before I even started eating. After the meal, we followed Lord Stark out. Cassel was standing outside with twenty or so guards along with my guards. I joined my guards and mounted my horse. The Starks bid their farewells to the teary eyed little Benjen and mounted their steeds. We rode out of the mostly empty wintertown since most people were still sleeping.

It was midday when I said to everyone,"Stop." They all came to a stop and Lord Stark looked at me as if expecting an answer. I looked off to the side of the road and Shadow came running out of the woods to join us on the kingsroad. Some of the guards cursed as their horses got spooked by Shadow.

"By the gods, he is even bigger now", said Brandon.

"My aplogies, my lord. But I didn't want someone to get hurt from a spooked horse", I said to Lord Stark. He nodded and said,"Can you truly control him?"

"No. But he understands who is enemy and who is pack. He will not attack anyone unless someone comes looking for trouble", I told him. Shadow at that point came up to Lord Stark who slowly held out his hand to him. Shadow sniffed him a little and then licked his hand. Lord Stark smiled and patted him on the head. Lady Lyanna came forward and held out her hand to him as well. He sniffed and licked her hand as well. She smiled and scratched his ears. He really liked that. As soon as all the horses got used to the direwolf's presense, we started riding south. Shadow ran on the grass beside me the whole time. We reached castle Cerwyn before it started getting dark. I wanted to leave Shadow outside again since he scared most people and animals. But Lady Lyanna insisted that we bring him inside. She had taken quite a liking to him.

Lord Cerwyn was a gracious host. Even though my maester told me that north wasn't as rich as the south, they certainly spared no expenses for their guests. The feast was grand.

"I must say, Lord Frost, you are taking quite the guard with you", He said pointing towards shadow who was sitting behind Lady Lyanna. Shadow was impressive no matter where he was. Quite a few of Lord Cerwyn's guards and household members had screamed when they saw him approach.

I shrugged and said,"The king wanted to size me up. So, I'll give him a good show." Everyone present laughed at that and a few banged their cups on the table.

"I think the southerners will piss themselves at the sight of Shadow", He said with a smile. Quite a few laughed and agreed with him.

I nodded and said,"If not Shadow then at the sight of my guards for sure." My guards did indeed look impressive now that they were wearing proper armor.

Lord Cerwyn laughed and said,"Indeed. Look at the size of them. I bet even the mountain will be afraid to cross any one of them."

"The Mountain?" I asked.

"Aye. Gregor Clegane is a knight sworn to house Lannister. He is a little over 8 feet tall. They call him the mountain that rides. Most men are afraid of him. And from some of the stories that we have heard? I dont blame them", He said to me.

"He might be scary to the southerners. But I am the king of the giants. If they are afraid of a 8 feet tall man, I bet they will piss themselves at the sight of a giant", I told him. That earned more laughs. Lord Cerwyn seemed to sober up a little at that though. He leaned forward and asked,"So, its true then about the giants and the children?"

He seemed to be looking to Lord Stark rather than me. Lord Stark looked him in the eye and said,"I have not seen them with my eyes but Brandon has."

Brandon looked around at Lord Cerwyn and said,"Aye. Its true. My father sent me to castle black to make sure there was no trouble with the night's watch. I saw them pass through the wall. Giants as big as 14 feet tall and Children as small as 4 feet tall." He seemed to look at me strangely as if just remembering something. Then he asked,"Is it true that Brandon the builder had a direwolf named Shadow?" Everyone got quiet at that.

I was surprised at that and asked him,"Who told you?"

"A child by the name of Weaver told me when she found out I was a Stark", He told me.

"Aye. He was a warg. He had a direwolf that he named Shadow. I thought it was a fitting name for a direwolf. So I gave it to him", I said pointing at Shadow. Lady Lyanna was still scratching his ears absent minded while staring at me intently. Everyone seemed to staring at Shadow then.

"There are quite a few wargs among my people. From what I know, people south of the wall started believing in warging as a sin rather than a simple ability. Those that carry the old blood of the north will still have some magic singing through their veins. If only they got out of their own way, they would realize what a blessing it is to have a true companion", I said to them all. They were all quite and staring at me. I wonder how many of them were imagining a direwolf companion of their own. The rest of the night went by quickly. Most asking me questions about the giants, the children and warging.

At the first light the next day, we were back on the road. As we travelled south, I rode beside Lord Stark and his children while rest of the guards rode either in the front or the back.

In the early evening he asked me,"Was it all true, Lord Frost? What you said last night?"

"I wasn't alive back then my lord but Weaver was. The children are long lived. She was alive in the last long night. If she says that its true then its true. Besides the giants told me the same story had been passed around their fires for 10 thousand years. They still speak Brandon the Builder's name with deep respect, my lord", I told him. He rode in silence while thinking about that.

Finally he said,"They have been telling tales of Brandon the builder for thousands of years. And we? we have forgotten our duty to them. I am glad for the day you decided to come to winterfell. Not just to end centuries old bloodshed but to remind us of our forgotten vow. We forgot once but we will not forget again."

I studied him for a while. He meant what he said but there was no way to hold to a promise like that. Then I told him,"They also say that men's lives are short and their memories even shorter. That's just one of the secrets you have forgotten, my lord. Imagine how many secrets you have lost in the last 10 thousand years."

Lord Stark was a quite but thoughtful man. He eyed me curiously and asked,"But the children remember what we have forgotten?"

"Aye, my lord. They do", I told him.

"Good. I have been meaning to converse with them for a while. You must bring this Weaver to Winterfell sometime", he said to me. I stared straight ahead at the massive structure of Moat Cailin's impressive even while half ruined. I doubt anyone else could see it in the fading light from this far.

"I am not their king, my lord. Neither was Brandon the builder. He was their protector as am I. I cannot order them about. I will request it of her but you may have to make the trip to Alera yourself if you want to speak with her", I told him. I could feel Lord Stark's as well as his children's eyes on me.

"Very well. I meant no disrespect, Lord Frost. If even Brandon the builder didn't order them about, then who am I to do so. Its another secret that we lost to time. Anything else you can tell us that we have forgotten", he said to me.

I thought about the walkers, the wall, the sword of heroes and the ties the Starks have with the Valerians. It was too much to spring up on anyone in one night or even one lifetime. The truth was simply too grand to be believable. It would shake their very reality. It was too fantastic to believe on its face value. They would have to figure it all out on their own journey. Just as I had. So instead of telling them the whole truth, I would let them figure it out slowly on their own. I had already planted the seeds of curiosity in all of them. They would speak with Weaver sooner or later. And just to be sure, I would make those seeds of curiosity grow a little more. Besides I had promised Weaver that the secrets of blood magic will die with me.

So I said,"The night's watch has forgotten why the watch or the wall was created, my lord. I hope the Starks in Winterfell remember." Lord Stark stopped in his tracks as did his children. But I kept riding slowly towards Moat Cailin.


	18. Riverrun

The southerners were as different from northerners as was their land. The more I traveled south the more I understood the northerners and why they hated the south. Northerners were a practical people who had little patience for politics and extravagance. If a lord was wasteful in the north, his people and his land suffered as a result. This was also true in the south but in the north it was a harsh reality that everyone had to face. The sword of winter was always hanging on their necks. My maester told me that north was always like this. But I didn't agree. The north was the only kingdom that defeated the entire might of the 6 southern kingdoms. The citadel was a southern establishment. They never liked the north. Their clear biased view was visible even in their recorded history and other works concerning the north. But even in their biased view, there were small details that spoke of the truth. North was a prosperous nation when it was ruled by the kings of winter. Their navy was just as powerful as any southern navy. Their army was even stronger. The harsh land bred harsh men. This has been true in every world. So, it was true here as well. Their treasury was full of coin and the land bountiful.

This all changed after the conquest. Torrhen Stark knelt and saved his people from the terrible fate of being burned alive by the targaryens. But the same life was being choked out of the north by the southern throne ever since. While the other 6 kingdoms didn't suffer much from the unity of the kingdoms, the north surely did. North was the size of the 6 southern kingdoms combined. They needed their crops and their coin to manage their land. especially to prepare for winter. Every cart full of crops that went south as tax meant starving northerners in the winter. It wasn't hard to imagine why the northerners disliked the south. Or at least that had been my conclusion. The maester had been dumbstruck when I told him of my suspicions.

He had tried to argue for some time that it couldn't be the case. The north has always struggled against the harsh northern winters. But the maesters agreed that when kings of winter ruled in the north, a maid could walk the length of the kingdom without fear of attack. I told him that it was only possible if the starks had the means to employ enough soldiers to manage the expanse of the entire kingdom. In the end, he conceded that it made sense. The other northern lords probably know this too. Hence their hatred for the south. I mean that it is not easy watching your own people starve to death. They had no population records in this land. But if there had been, I bet it would be easy to see the slow decline of the northern population. Now the north had around four million people. the smallest population in all the seven kingdoms. Even Dorne had more. The north had become a shadow of what it truly was. And the south thought of them as little more than savages.

It became more and more apparent as I traveled south with the Starks. When we had passed the twins, Lord Frey had been all smiles and veiled insults to the northerners. He tried to marry one of his daughter with me as well. But I politely told him that I already had a wife. By the freefolk customs, Val was my wife. Lord Stark spent as little time as he could at the twins and we pressed on. From the twins we made our way to Riverrun. The Tully's were a much more gracious hosts than the Freys. Brandon was to marry the Tully girl after all. I smiled at Brandon from across the table. He was seated with the girl in question. I could tell that he was doing everything in his power to just stop from kissing the girl right there. Catalyn Tully on the other hand was a proper lady. A little too much for my liking. She reminded me of those Aleran ladies that looked down at my mother because she was Marat. My mother was polite and respectful enough but she was also rather ferocious. She dressed modest but practical. I looked over at Lyanna. My mother would have liked her, I thought to myself. She was sitting between the two Tully girls. She had been more and more anxious as we came south. And she had barely let Shadow out of her sight. Lysa Tully was still throwing worrying glances at Shadow.

The ward of Lord Tully was serving him wine. A little boy named Petyr Baelish. I noticed how Lysa's eyes seemed to follow him. Whereas his eyes were either fixed on Catalyn or Brandon. I saw the dark shadow that would pass over his face everytime he looked at Brandon. I sighed to myself. It was obvious that he was in love with Catalyn while Lysa was in love with him. However I did not get the feeling that Catalyn had any feelings towards him. She seemed to have eyes only for Brandon.

I was brought out of my thoughts as Lord Tully directed his interest towards me.

"I must admit lord Frost that you are not quite what I had imagined", He said to me.

I smiled at him and said,"What were you imagining?"

"To be honest. I have never met any wildlings. But to my knowledge, they were a savage folk who feed on their own", he said to me.

I laughed and said,"Don't worry my lord. I will not eat any of your people."

Everyone laughed a little at that. I continued,"First, the freefolk are just like any other people. They simply lived in a harsher land and lived accordingly. And second, I am not from beyond the Wall. I simply came to this land in the far north." I caught everyone's attention at that.

"Where are you from then?" asked lord Tully as he leaned forward.

"Alera. A land far far away from here. Unknown even to your maesters", I replied.

"But how did you come to be here then?" he asked.

"I honestly dont know. I was on a ship that was caught in a storm and then I thought I was drowning. But I woke up to find myself in this land", I lied to him. I had come up with that lie on the way down from Alera. I needed that lie. How else could I explain about how I came to be here. It was obvious that nobody thought of me as one of the freefolk. My sword, my clothes and most of all my behavior seems to confirm that I was raised well.

"I see", he said after a long pause.

"You are very well spoken. Would I be correct in assuming that you are highborn?" he asked me.

I smiled at him again and said,"Aye. You could say that. I was second in line to the throne in Alera."

A hush fell over the table. Even the ward and the serving girls stopped to stare at me.

I smiled at them and said,"But that is all behind me. I have no way of going back to my land. I might as well make a life for me in this land."

"You are a prince?" said a familiar voice. I looked to see Brandon staring at me with the strangest look.

"I was a prince", I corrected him,"And in a land lost to me. Here, I am just a king of the wildlings."

He started laughing and said,"You are bloody full of surprises, Frost. But I am glad that you got lost in that storm. Otherwise, I never would have met you." He raised his glass to me and the others followed. I knew that Brandon did that just to make me feel welcome rather than abandoned. I raised my glass and took a drink with them all.

"If you dont mind my asking, Lord Frost. Are you married?" Lord Tully asked me. I could see where he was going with this. I didn't need watercrafting to tell me that Lysa was annoyed. A look at her face told everything.

"Aye, my lord. I am", I told him.

"That's a shame. I have been looking for good matches for my younger daughter. But it seems like there are no good lads left in the seven kingdoms", He said. If looks could kill, Lysa Tully would have killed her father with the glare that followed.

"I am sure that you will find a good match for her at this tourney. I heard everyone who is anyone is coming to this tourney from all over the seven kingdoms", I said to him.

He snorted and said,"Of course they are. Who wouldn't come when you offer such rewards."

Lord Stark nodded at that and said,"Even then it seems a bit overdone. We northerners dont think much of tourneys. But this is just pure wasteful."

They all nodded. Since nobody asked the question to sate my curiosity, I asked,"Am I the only clueless one here? What is so special about this tourney?"

Lord Tully shared a glance with Lord Stark who nodded.

"Lord Whent has decided to throw the most expensive and splendid tourney yet known. It is for the celebration of his daughter's name day. He is offering more than double the prizes that Tywin Lannister offered in his tourney for Viserys's birth. 10 thousand gold for the champions of the melee. 30 thousand gold for the jousting. These two are the traditional big prizes. But Lord Whent is also giving away 20 thousand gold for the greatest sword in Westeros. When money like this is involved, everyone who is anyone will want to compete", Lord Tully finished. But I had seen the warning glance that Lord Stark had given Lord Tully and the serving maids.

I decided not to pursue the subject at that time and let the topic of conversation be changed. But I was walking into a dragon's den. I had already enough dangers that were lurking in my mind. But now it seemed that I was still oblivious to some other game that was afoot. The rest of the night seem to pass pretty quickly for me.

As we were walking back to our chambers, I asked Lord Stark if I could have a private word with him. He stared at me as if he knew what I was going to ask. He was a perceptive man. He nodded at me. As we reached near our chambers, he sent Lyanna away but told Brandon to follow him into his quarters. The Stark guards stood at the door as we went in.

"My apologies for the lateness of the hour. But it has been nagging on my mind ever since the meal", I said to Lord Stark.

He nodded and said,"The tourney."

It wasn't a question but rather a statement.

"Aye. I know there's more to the story. I wouldn't normally care. But I have been specially asked by the king to be there. The king who is mad. The king who my maester says asked the citadel not to send us a maester. I knew that I was walking into danger before. But now it seems that there is game afoot that I am not even aware of. I can't go in there blind, my lord. One wrong move could mean life or death. Or war or peace", I said to him.

Lord Stark stared at me for a while before saying,"You really must be a prince. Not many wildlings would have thought that far ahead."

He took a deep breath and said,"What Lord Tully didn't tell you is not common knowledge. It is known or rather suspected by the lords of the realm. Lord Whent made one mistake in organizing this tourney. While the offered prices will bring the competitors, it would also bring suspicions. Because Lord Whent cannot possibly afford to pay all these himself. Many suspect that he has a secret backer for this tournament."

He let that sink in and continued,"Lord Whent was visited by his brother Ser Oswald Whent of the kingsguard right before the tourney was announced. Many suspect that the prince is backing this tourney. Because along with the competitors, most of the High Lords of the realm will be attending this tourney. He means to use this tourney as the staging ground for an unofficial grand council of the high lords. Where he can convince the lords to back him in overthrowing his father."

We sat there for a while as I chewed over all that was being said.

"But the king will be there. Wouldn't he or his advisers know that something was being planned right under his nose?" I asked Lord Stark. I know the king was mad. But surely, he had advisers that were not.

"Aye. But the king hasn't left king's landing in years. We are the only ones who know that the king is coming. Because he demanded that you come south. That is why I suspect we got the letter for you so late. The king waited until the tourney was finalized to ask you south. Which means that he already suspects. But it is still not common knowledge that the king will come", Lord Stark replied.

I thought about that for a while and said,"Why does the Prince want to overthrow his own father?"

Lord stark leaned back in his chair and said,"Perhaps because the king is mad? Or the prince is over ambitious. It doesn't matter why. I dont care either way. The southerners are always playing their damned game of thrones. We have our people to look after. For Winter is coming."

And there it was. The difference between the North and the south. The south playing its games of politics. And as usual these games would more often than not would lead to war. The war that would ravage the land and cost thousands of lives. The North on the other hand didn't have this luxury. They had to work the summers hard, so that they could survive the winter. They worked together mostly rather than against each other. They knew that ravaged land would mean even more deaths in the winter than usual. The north would go to war if necessary but simply not for petty things like the south.

"The king will come and foil their plans. That's quite the gold to loose on the prince's part", I said which made Brandon snort for some reason. I looked from him to lord Stark.

I sighed and asked,"What am I missing now?"

Brandon stepped forward and said,"The biggest purse is for the jousting. And I am sure the kingsguard will be participating in the joust along with Prince Rhaegar. I doubt anyone but one of them would win that. And the second biggest purse is for so called greatest sword of westeros. Any child in the seven kingdoms could tell you that Ser Arthur Dayne is the greatest sword of westeros. No one even in the kingsguard can beat him one on one. So they will award most of the money to themselves. I think that the smallest purse is the only that will go to some actual winners. The team that will win the melee will split that among themselves. It would cause uproar if the kingsguard joined that too. They would end up winning all three."

I nodded to myself. It felt like sound reasoning.

"Anything else I need to know before I walk in front of the king?" I asked them both.

"No. That is everything we know or suspect. but this is the south", Lord Stark said. He didn't say anything after that. But he didn't need to. I understood. There will always be different games afoot. I would have to keep a sharp mind and eye out at all times.

I bid them both good night and made my way to my chambers. I nodded at Bael and Jax before entering my chambers. I fell into an uneasy sleep that was constantly interrupted by nightmares of war.

Author's note:

I know i haven't been able to update the story in a long while. but we had a terrible christmas and new years. finally we are moving on. my wife has been in and out of hospital. hopefully, this is the end of it. I had this one written long ago. I will try to update as regularly as I can. I hope you like the chapter. we will meet the mad king in the next chapter.


	19. The mad king

My trip to Harrenhall brought another enlightenment to me. In this land, I could only possibly live in the north. The south stank. My senses of smell were already sharp because of my marat heritage. But now with my bond sealed to Shadow, I could smell as well as him. The north was a colder place and the land and the people didn't smell too bad. The cities and the castles smelled of smoke and fires. As we had traveled through moat cailin and the neck, I noticed how the smell changed. It smelled more of the earth and the trees. The cranoggmen were almost one with their land. So, they smelled like their land too. I bet they had developed that technique over long centuries of being the north's gatekeepers. The neck was a swampland. The pure foolishness of people trying to attack moat cailin as they went through the neck astounded me.

The south, however, was completely unbearable because of the smell. I could understand the villages but even castles had no sewers. Every Aleran city had them. Being brought up in Alera, I thought to myself that this was normal. But only now I was starting to realize what a luxury that is. I would have to keep this in mind as I start erecting buildings in Alera. I would never be able to live there if it started smelling like the south. Although I doubt it would since the north was nowhere near as humid as the south. I wondered what Dorne would be like.

As we approached, I saw the broken towers from miles away. But the tents were also spread for miles around. The tourney had turned it into a small city onto itself. I saw the crowd part as we rode up the path between the tents leading towards the castle. Or I should perhaps say the half destroyed castle. I smiled to myself as I looked at the castle. Half a day from King's landing and still a massive structure. My maester told me that it was the largest castle in the land. The towers that were destroyed by Aegon and his sisters were still not rebuilt. He also told me that people thought the castle is cursed. Every lord or the lady of the castle tried to rebuild it and failed. How could they? I thought. You would need many times the money being offered for this tourney to repair just one tower. I, however, thought that the castle was in this state because the Targaryens wanted it to remain that way. A reminder of the power of house Targaryen. Even if that power has long since passed.

As we made our way through the tents, I saw the merchants and small folk alike trying to sell their wares. Children were running in between tents playing their games. A small crowd started forming around our party. I knew it wasn't because of any one of us. It was because of Shadow. How often do the southerners see a direwolf as big as a horse? Shadow was walking in between me and Lyanna. I didn't want somebody to do something stupid and get their arm ripped off by Shadow. A man wearing Tully armor approached us on horseback.

"My Lord", He said to lord Tully who nodded.

"My lords, this is Brynden. My brother", Lord Tully said. I could see the resemblance but Brynden was bit taller and more broad of shoulders than his brother.

"Are the tents prepared?" he asked him.

"Aye, my lord. One for you and another one for Lord Stark and his family. And one for Lord Frost and one for the Arryns", he replied. Lord Tully nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. We followed him to the tents. The tents were not far from each other. One had the Tully fish flying on top and the other the grey direwolf. Mine had no banner on it. My sigil wasn't well known yet. So, I didn't think much of it.

"I suggest you all refresh yourselves. We will be leaving for the feast in the evening soon", Lord Tully suggested.

Lord Stark nodded and said,"Aye. We need to change out of travel clothes at the least. And thank you for the tent, Lord Tully. You really didn't have to."

Lord Tully waved his hand dismissively and said with a smile,"It was nothing. We are to become family after all. And this is still riverlands. So, I am still the host."

After the pleasantries were exchanged, Each party retired to their respective tents. The Stark soldiers started making camp. They tied the horses and started unloading the small things that they had brought with them. I gave my reins over to Bael and told him to help the soldiers in settling down. He nodded and I followed the Starks into the tent.

It was a big enough tent for the Starks.

"My lord. I would like to make my camp separate if you dont mind", I said to Lord Stark.

He frowned and said,"Why? Lord Tully has provide one tent for you."

I nodded and said,"Yes. I saw that. While I am thankful for the consideration, perhaps it would be more prudent for me to keep a little away from you."

I saw a shadow cross over his eyes and he grumbled,"You mean that it would be good for us to keep away from you."

I nodded.

"Nonsense. You are our banner-man now. Besides Brandon has lacked good company of lads his own age for a while and he seems fond of you. We dont abandon our own, Lord Frost", he said to me. I knew he was sincere in what he said. My watercrafting and sense of smell told me so.

"I dont care about the southerners, my lord. Just the King. If this meeting unfolds against me, then my actions would not reflect on you so much. They would see that you didn't even camp with the wildling", I told him.

"Damn the king and damn them all. You are a northerner and you will stay in this camp", he said with steel in his voice.

I looked at him and then at Brandon who was leaning against the table and smiling lazily. Even Lyanna had a smile on her lips. Damn. I had come to really like the Starks. They had given me all the respect I could have hoped for. I really didn't want to be responsible for anything happening to them because of me. But they seemed determined. I sighed and said,"Very well. Don't say later that I didn't give you a choice, my lord."

He laughed and said,"I wont."

I nodded and said,"In that case, I need to buy some supplies if I am to meet the king tonight. First impressions go a long way."

Lord Stark nodded and dismissed me with a wave.

"Hold on, Frost. I will come with you. I dont want to sit in the tent till evening", Brandon said following me towards the door.

"Be back in time. So that you can change and we can leave together for the feast. Both of you", Lord Stark said looking at both of us.

Brandon gave me a smile and said,"Yes father."

I just nodded at Lord Stark and walked out. Brandon followed me out.

He slapped me on the back and said,"So Frost. Lets go and find a good cup of ale."

Of course that's what he wanted. I sighed and said,"No. I meant what I said. I need to buy few supplies. Besides if I start drinking with you, I will be in no condition to go before the king. Or the king would kill me for coming before him while absolutely pissed."

He laughed loudly at that and slapped my back again.

"Always so careful. You need to loosen up a little", He said. He must've seen the look on my face when he said,"Fine. Lets go find your stupid supplies. There will be plenty to drink at the feast."

I nodded and said to Shadow,"wait here in my tent. I dont want you to scare someone to death. And no wondering. Bael, keep an eye on him. Make sure no one bothers him. And get him something to eat."

Bael nodded while shadow yawned and disappeared inside the smaller tent that was for me. I looked at my tent. It was considerably smaller than the other two. But still very comfortable. The size was probably because they thought it was only me staying in it. And I wasn't their top priority.

We went to the merchants. There were carts and carts of goods everywhere. Many tried to sell us swords, knives and shields. But that was not what I was looking for. A little boy came up to me and said,"I can help ya find the right place, ma lord. If ya tell me what you want."

I looked at him. A little thing. He must have been 8 or 9 years old. He was wearing ragged clothing and no boots. He also seemed underfed. I nodded at him and said,"Proper clothing. Fit for a king. If you know the place then there is a silver in it for you." His eyes got big at that. He quickly said,"I know just the place, ma lord. This way."

Brandon and I followed him through a maze of carts and small shops until we came upon a row of big tents.

"They have the best of everything here, ma lord", the boy said. I nodded and said,"Thank you. And here is your silver as promised."

I held out the silver for him. As he tried to take it, I took a hold of his hand. I felt him go tense. But I knelt down to his level and said,"Ever had a silver all to yourself before?" He shook his head. It was as I had feared.

"You will do well to keep the silver hidden until you know what you want to spend it on", I said to him. He nodded quickly and said,"I am poor, ma lord. Not stupid." I smiled despite myself. I could see the intelligence behind those eyes. He had seen the opportunity to make some easy money by offering us small help. He would know not to get killed over some silver. I suddenly had an idea.

"No, you are not. If you ever want good work, come to Alera. Its the new city of the north on the west coast. Some call it the city of the wildlings. You will never go hungry again. I take care of my own", I said to him. He slowly nodded. I put the silver in his hand and closed his fist over it. I saw him slowly walk away and then look back at me. I winked at him and turned to look at the row of shops.

Brandon turned to me and said,"Why did you do that?"

"He is a clever lad. One smart man is worth a hundred soldiers. With a bit of training, he would make a good soldier. So, I offered him. Whether he comes or not is up to him," I replied.

"You know that he is lowborn right? They are all clever enough to earn a little coin and such. But they dont make good commanders", he said to me.

I eyed him. He really believed that. Of course he did. That's all he had been taught. My people used to think the same about the Canim, the icemen and the marat. The war with the vord taught us better. We saw peoples from every background perform such heroics that people would sing of them for a thousand years. We saw people with barely any furycraft do more than some lords of the realm. Brains were much more important than brawn. Although both had their uses.

"That's because the nobility refuses them the means to better themselves. They are uneducated and untrained. How would they know how to lead when you refuse the very means to learn", I told him.

"You are strange, Frost. You must be from a different land. Because nobody in westeros talks like that", he said to me. He shook his head and continued,"Lets get your stupid supplies. Ned will be here soon and I want to be there to meet him."

"Who is Ned?" I asked him.

"Oh. I forgot you never met him. He is my second brother. He is fostering in the Eyrie with Lord Arryn", Brandon replied.

"Right. Are there any more siblings that I am not aware of?" I asked him with a smile.

He laughed and said,"No. Its just me, Eddard, Lyanna, and Benjen."

I nodded and we approached the merchant. A very well dressed large man.

"What can I do for you, my lords?" he asked with a bow.

"I need some clothes. Durable and able to withstand some cold weather", I replied to him. I had no other clothes than what was on my back when I entered this world. And they were not in good shape anymore. After buying some necessary clothes for day to day use, I decided to buy some more to play the part of a lord. Some leather boots from Braavos or so the merchant told me. Brandon suggested to pick the colors carefully as every house has its own colors. House Stark had Grey and white. So, I decided to honor my own unique heritage in my colors. I decided white because of my marat heritage. Black because of Shadow. And red for my father's house of Gaius. Ironically, all these colors were also present in my sigil. I had not planned it that way but it sure turned out in my favor. After buying a ton of clothes, we headed back to the tents.

As soon as we came within sight of the tents Brandon exclaimed,"They are here. Come Frost. I'll introduce you to my brother."

I nodded as I saw the falcon sigil on the breast of a few guards. House Arryn, I thought to myself. I saw Bael and Soren standing guard at my tent. The others must be inside.

"Bael. Get these clothes inside the tent. I will be back soon", I told him. Bael nodded and lead the merchant's servant with the clothes over to my tent.

I followed Brandon inside the tent. Brandon quickly grabbed a young man with his own coloring in a crushing hug and yelled,"About damn time, Ned."

"OOffff. Brandon! Its good to see you too, brother", the young man said. This must be Ned. I studied the young man. A couple of years younger than me and Brandon. A little shorter too. But he had the Stark coloring and grey eyes like his siblings.

"Come here Frost. This is my brother, Ned", Brandon introduced us. I nodded and said,"My lord."

"Its a pleasure meeting you", he said with a small smile. He was quite opposite of Brandon, I thought. Where Brandon was loud, he was quite. Brandon was wild and Ned was more reserved. My eyes suddenly got bigger as I realized that they were like me and my brother. Only my older brother was more like Ned and I was more like Brandon.

"We have heard quite a lot about you. Its finally good to put the face to the man who broke lord umber's leg", another young man said to me. He was taller than me. Even taller than Lord Stark.

"And you are?" I asked as I shook his hand.

"Robert Baratheon, Lord of the Stormlands", said Ned. I nodded and said,"The pleasure is all mine, my lord." He nodded back at me with an easy grin and said,"So. You are the reason the king is finally leaving king's landing. Now that will be a sight." They all laughed easily. I simply smiled and shrugged. I was too tense about the coming night to joke about it. If it came to it, I could fight my way out of there. But then all the past year's work would be for nothing. It would lead to the war that I had worked so hard to avoid. I noticed that Robert was stealing glances at Lyanna who was doing her best to ignore him.

Lord Stark waved me over and said,"This is Lord Arryn. We grew up together. He was fostered at winterfell. And now my Ned is fostering under him."

I nodded and said,"Its a pleasure, my lord." The man was smaller than me but had shrewd eyes that spoke of experience. He nodded back and said,"Are you ready for tonight?"

"As ready as I can be, my lord. That reminds me. I should go and change. We should be leaving for the feast soon", I replied back. Lord Stark nodded and gave me leave. I bid farewell to everyone and made my way over to my tent.

"Bael. Come inside. Soren can keep watch alone. I doubt anyone would try to cross him", I told my guards. Bael nodded and I earned a smile from Soren. I entered my tent to find my guards sleeping. I quietly undressed and washed myself with the washcloth. I stilled the water with watercrafting and reached for my dagger. I shaved slowly and carefully but even then I ended up cutting myself here and there. I healed the wounds quickly. Then I started getting dressed. I wanted Bael there to get the first impression. I put on the black trousers with the leather boots. Then I put on the white shirt with the silver buttons. And to finish it all I had Bael drape the crimson cloak over my shoulders. I tied the cloak and fixed it into place with the silver fastenings. I turned to look at Bael and asked,"How do I look?"

He stared at me for a moment and said,"Like a southerner." Which made me laugh harder than it should have. My laugh woke the sleeping guards. They all looked at me in their sleepy states and stared. I smiled to myself as I saw them staring at me. So far so good.

"Time to wake up. Put your armor on. You remember what I told you on the way down?" I asked them. They nodded.

"Good. You may not be going into the feast. But if this goes to shit, we might have to fight our way out of here", I reminded them. That woke them up. They quickly but quietly started putting their armor back on. Bael and Soren were already in their armor.

"Stand guard Bael. Let me know when the others are ready to leave", I told him. He nodded and left to stand guard. Shadow woke up and made his way over to him. I saw him tilt his head and felt his query. I told him that it was necessary. He yawned and was unimpressed. I smiled to myself. At least I will always have Shadow to humble me. I told him that no one will look at me once they catch sight of him. And he agreed. Errok, Harl and Jax got ready and left to stand guard outside. Not too long after I heard Bael call me out.

I stood and gathered my thoughts. It was time.

I grabbed a bundle from my belongings and exited the tent. I passed the bundle to Bael and nodded to Lord Stark. I saw him stop short and stare at me. I looked behind him to see all the others were staring too as well as the guards. Brandon started laughing and came over to me.

"Now you look like a bloody king of the wildlings", He said while slapping me on the back again. I laughed at him and others followed.

"Shall we?" I asked lord Stark who nodded.

We made our way to the castle. Lord Whent greeted us as we made it to the main keep. The keep was large. Large enough that a few dozen lords and ladies were comfortably enjoying themselves. There were tables covered with food and maids were serving wine. Our party took its share of food and wine. Soon Brandon led me, Ned, Robert, and Lyanna away from the other lords.

"Lets leave the boring talks of politics to the lords", he said by way of explanation.

"Unless you want to join them, Robert", He said again.

"Nah. I dont want people kissing my ass all night", he replied with a smile.

But ass kissing is what he got. Soon every lord of the stormlands made their way over to greet their lord. I left them to it as I started scanning the crowd. I saw a big group of men and women chatting on the far side of the room. I caught a glimpse of white cloak and armor. Few people shifted and I caught sight of a white haired man. He must be the prince. Which would also explain the crowd around him. I saw his eyes flicker over to the one side of the room. I followed his direction to the other half of our party. Of course, he would be looking that way. Lord Stark, Tully, and Arryn were all there. If you count Robert who had also come with us, that is 4 of the 7 kingdom's lords. Perhaps there was something to the suspicions of all the lords. The prince must be a fool, I thought to myself. If the entire realm knows then surely the king knows. What kind of conspiracy is known by the entire realm? I suddenly noticed that the room had grown eerily quiet. I looked at my companions to see that they were all staring behind me. I turned to see two white cloaked and armored men standing at the gate of the keep.

And the king walked in followed by 2 more kingsguards and a white faced Lord Whent. He was dressed in fine clothes but they somehow seemed unwashed on him. His skin was wrinkled with age. His white hair were thin and patchy. Everything about his appearance seems to confirm that he was indeed mad. But it was his eyes that concerned me. They were like a paranoid cat darting everywhere. The king quickly walked over to the head of the room where the throne of harren the black still stood. As he walked the length of the room, some bowed and some knelt. He walked up the stairs and sat on the throne.

"Lord Whent", He said when he sat down. A white faced Lord Whent came and knelt in front of the king as well as few others.

"Your grace", he said to the king.

"Is this your daughter? The one whose nameday you are celebrating", the king asked. Lord Whent nodded fervently and said,"Yes. Your grace."

"Quite the gold to waste on a wench that isn't even that comely. Are you hoping to find some good matches for her by showing your wealth?" the king laughed. Nobody said anything. My maester told me that the king was once taken prisoner. But it seems he never learnt his lesson. You never come into the keep of a lord and humiliate them. You may have brought a few guards with you but he is surrounded by his men. Although I dont think Lord Whent had it in him to do anything. The king dismissed him with a wave of his hand. He hurried out of his way as if thankful for the opportunity.

"Jamie Lannister", the king called. A golden haired young man a couple of years younger than me walked to the front of the throne and knelt.

"I have heard many praises about your skill with a sword from ser Arthur Dayne. There is an opening on my kingsguard. If you so wish it, I would bestow the honor upon you here and now", said the king.

"Damn. Lord Tywin is not going to like this", Brandon said to my right.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Because kingsguard serve for life and take no wife. And Jamie is Tywin's heir", he replied. That was curious.

"Why would he want to steal his heir from him?" I asked him.

"Because Tywin used to be his hand. There is bad blood between them because the king insulted him. Tywin isn't one to forget", He replied. But his eyes were still fixed on Jamie Lannister. Lannister never stood up but after a long quiet silence, he replied,"I would be honored to join your kingsguard, your grace."

A hush fell over the crowd. But the king pounced. He quickly made is way down the steps and draped a white cloak over his shoulders.

"Arise a kingsguard", he replied with a smile.

Young Jamie Lannister stood with a smile on his lips. The king sat down on the throne again and said,"Ride for king's landing. The royal family there is without a kingsguard. Guard them with your life."

Young Lannister bowed and quickly left the throne room. The king was not done yet. The lords and ladies had barely registered what had happened when the king spoke again.

"Lord Stark", he said this time. I felt all of my group get tense including me. I told Shadow to come to the gates of the castle and wait.

Lord Stark came to the throne and bowed deeply.

"Your grace", he said.

"Did you bring the wildling? Or did you choose to ignore the iron throne again?" he asked. Now the king's eyes were flashing with rage. barely contained rage. damn, I thought to myself. This doesn't look good. He was angry because the Starks had allowed us through the wall without asking him.

"Aye, your grace", Lord Stark replied. Lord Stark never took his eyes off the king and said,"Lord Frost."

Here we go, I thought to myself. I turned to Brandon and said,"Go get my guards and shadow. And wait outside this hall." Brandon turned towards the door with a nod.

I walked from between my group to the throne. Every eye in the room seems to follow my every step. I reached beside Lord Stark and said,"Your grace."

The king stared at me with a confused but still angry expression. The prince who was at the bottom of the steps said,"It is customary to kneel before your king."

I eyed him and then the king. This will not go down well. But I had made my choice. If I am to be the representative of my people then I need to honor their traditions.

"Beg your pardon, your grace. But we dont bow to anyone", I said to him.

The king's eyes narrowed and said,"Stark. You insulted me when you let him and his people through the wall without my permission. Now he insults me as he stands before me in his insolence."

Before Lord Stark could reply, I said,"I meant no insult, your grace. Every people have their customs. The rhoynar, the andals, and the first men. So do we. We follow strength not curtsies, your grace. I am here as you commanded me to. That shows respect. Does it not?"

The king's eyes narrowed and he said,"Damn your traditions, wildling. Ser Dayne. Ser Selmy. If he doesn't kneel, remove his head from his shoulders."

Lord Stark tried to intervene but the king silenced him by saying,"Silence Stark. Or I will have you executed along with him for treason."

I saw two of the knights draw their swords and move down the stairs. The king's eyes were maliciously alive. My bracelet tingled as another voice joined the argument.

"Please father. We should respect the traditions of our subjects. He meant you no disrespect. He rode all the way down here from near the wall on your orders. Perhaps that shows more respect than mere kneeling", the prince said to the king.

The king sneered at the prince and said,"You would want that, wouldn't you? Agreeing with a wildling. A weak king like you would only doom our family. Perhaps I should kill you along with him? To save our family the trouble."

The prince never replied only bowed his head. The kingsguard started moving again. My hand went to my sword but I didn't draw it.

The kingsguards were mere 10 feet from me when I heard the whispers spread around the hall. I didn't need to turn to see what happened. My guards walked in with Shadow. My guards stood behind me in a half circle while Shadow came beside me and snarled at the kingsguard. The kingsguard stopped in their tracks but I saw the other kingsguard draw their swords and put themselves between us and the king.

"You will have to forgive them, your grace. My guards take their duty seriously. Also, the prince speaks the truth. I mean you and your family no disrespect. In fact, I hold one of your family in great esteem", I spoke. That brought the knights to a stand still. The Prince was staring at me like I was a ghost as well as the king. And the kingsguard. Probably the others in the room too but I never turned to look at them.

Finally the king said,"You speak Valerian?" Which made my bracelet tingle again. Ah. That explains why the bracelet had tingled and why they were surprised. The prince and the king had exchanged their little argument in Valerian.

"I do, your grace", I lied to him. I smelled the king become more curious than angry. The kingsguard looked back at the king and the king waved them away. They never moved but they didn't advance either. The gaze of the guards was still on me while their hands rested on their swords.

"Are you a Valerian?" The king asked me as he leaned forward. I saw his eyes flicker towards Shadow and my guards. I could smell some fear on him now.

"No, your grace. But I have met one who taught me Valerian. A member of your esteemed family", I lied to him again. If I could develop some sort of familiarity with him, then he would be more understanding.

The king leaned back in the throne and said,"Who? Aemon? he is the only one in the north you could have met."

I shook my head and said,"No, your grace. I meant Brynden." My answer seems to confuse him until the prince spoke up,"Bloodraven?"

The king scowled and said angrily,"Lies, wildling. You are young and Bloodraven died long ago." I heard more soldiers come through the doors and surround us. I felt the king become more confident now that we were surrounded.

I saw my guards turn and face the soldiers while I kept staring at the king. I finally said,"Aye. He is dead. But not long ago. Only a year ago. I burned his body myself. When he was sent to the wall, it was only a matter of time that he would discover the children due to his gifts. They taught him the true extent of his power. He was the last greenseer alive."

A hush fell over the crowd. The spell was broken when the prince almost absentmindedly said,"How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven has? A thousand and one."

The king stared at him and then turned to me,"So, old bloodraven is finally dead. And we are to believe that you were his friend?"

"Aye. He was a good man. He helped the children in whatever way he could. He lived with them for decades in a place called the last refuge. It is far beyond the haunted forest. I stayed there with him for a while", I told the king. Without taking my eyes of the king, I held out my hand and said,"Bael." I saw Bael turn and pass the bundle over to me.

I took the bundles and tossed it to the purple eyed kingsguard.

"Brynden would have wanted you to have it", I said to the king. The kingsguard turned and passed the bundle to the prince. I saw the prince feel the bundle and unwrap it slowly. I saw him stare at it when he opened it. Finally, he reached inside the bundles and with shaking hand withdrew a black Valerian steel sword. The whispers spread around the hall as everyone noticed the blade for what it was. The Targaryen family's ancestral sword, the dark sister. The prince slowly walked up the steps and offered the hilt to his father. The king slowly withdrew the the dark blade. He seemed mesmerized by it. Brynden had actually given the sword to weaver when they left for the wall. And she had given it to me for appeasing the mad king. She thought that it might just win the mad king's favor. And I had given them all the dragonglass that was at the volcano. So she said that they didn't need the sword anymore. But I had thought that it was her way of balancing the scales a little. I had helped them south of the wall and she was helping me with the mad king.

The king finally turned to me and said,"So, you did know old Bloodraven after all." Then he turned his gaze on the hall and said,"Let it not be said that the Targaryens are ungrateful. By returning dark sister to its rightful owners, you have proven your friendship to Bloodraven therefore house Targaryen. Even though Bloodraven was a bastard, he was still blood of the dragon. In reward for this great service done to house Targaryen, I hereby formally induct you into the seven kingdoms."

All of the kingsguard sheathed their swords. Suddenly, I felt a huge burden being lifted off of my shoulders.

I nodded at the king and said,"Thank you, your grace." He dismissed me with a wave and said,"Lord Stark. Don't let this get to your head. Another transgression like this and you might just lose your head."

Lord Stark bowed and said,"Yes, your grace." I could feel anger coming from him. He met my eyes and nodded. We walked back to our group with my guards following us.

"You used Brandon to get your guards here. Don't ever do that. He could have been killed for treason", Lord Stark said to me.

"That's why he didn't enter the hall till now", I said to Lord Stark as I nodded towards the door where Brandon was just walking in.

"If he was accused of anything, it would have been his word against a guard or two. Who would they believe? A lordling or a guard?" I replied.

"Still. Too damned dangerous. Could've gone wrong. And you didn't tell us about dark sister", He said to me.

"Its easy to keep something safe if no one knows its there to begin with", I told him. He nodded as we reached our group.

Lord Arryn said,"That was bloody intense. I thought he was going to kill you for sure."

A few laughed at that and I said,"They would have tried to kill me. I dont think they had enough men." They laughed some more at that.

"Balls of steel, Frost", Brandon laughed and they all agreed. I didn't feel like that. I was still a little tense. I grabbed some wine and drained it all.

"If you are that good in a fight, then mayhaps you will join the lists?" A voice asked from behind me. I turned to see the prince behind me along with two kingsguard.

"My lords and my lady", he greeted the group. They all replied with your highness. He tuned his purple gaze to me and said,"That was quite the entrance, Lord Frost."

I smiled and said,"I didn't really have a choice. I played with what I had on hand."

He smiled back and said,"It seems you have won this time. Welcome to the seven kingdoms."

"Thank you", I replied.

"Are you joining the lists then? I am afraid that you can't have your wolf fight with you in the tourney", the prince asked with a smile as he eyed Shadow with wonder. Shadow was busy eating. So, he paid the prince no mind.

"We have no jousting up north. But I will try the melee and the sword challenge", I replied to him.

The prince frowned and said,"Well, that's a shame. Because I am only competing in the jousting. But Ser Arthur and Ser Whent here are fighting in the sword challenge. And I look forward to seeing you cross blades with them."

I nodded over at the kingsguard who nodded back at me.

"I wont keep you for long. I wish the best of luck to you and your champions, my lords", with that the prince departed with his kingsguard.

The rest of the night went quickly. We ate and kept to ourselves. And as soon as we could, we left the feast for our tents. Nobody objected. It had been a rather tense night. I went over to my tent and told my guards to rotate watches all night. I didn't want to get a dagger in my back while I slept. Shadow noticed that I was still tense. He assured me that he would keep watch all night. He assured me more than anything. It was hard to sneak anything past him. Especially at night. So I finally let myself relax and fall into the abyss of sleep.


	20. The melee

The sword that had been hanging over my neck since the summons was finally lifted. Although, I did not press my luck any further. I debated whether I should return back north. The king was mad after all. If I am not here then he couldn't change his mind to kill me. On the other hand, we could really use the gold being offered in the tourney. I owed it to my people to at least try. The gold would go a long way in helping our situation. The gold we had found was a long way from being coined still. We might have to wait till the mad king died. And that could be years for all we knew. Also, every lord, minor or high, was here. If I won even the melee, I could use that gold to strike some trade deals while I was here. I weighed my options with a heavy heart as I broke my fast. In the end, I decided to stay and compete. I figured that if I lost, the king would be happy to see me humiliated. If I won, however, the king would be happy that I struck a blow against his conspiring son. They were hoping to bag most of the gold themselves if Brandon was to be believed. And I think he was right.

I looked across at Bael. He was the most reliable of my guards. He was a man of few words. Mance had told me that he knew to keep his mouth shut. He was also the smartest fighter. Being brought up north of the wall, he was used to using everything he had to win a fight. He had also shown good aptitude for command. If he kept this up, I might make him a captain of the legions one day. I decided to ask his opinion about the matter at hand.

"Bael, what do you think? Should we stay and compete? Or should we return home?" I asked him. He stared at me while he took a drink of water. Finally, he said,"Magnar, I am not nearly as clever as you. I would do whatever you say."

I sighed and said,"I am just asking for an opinion. I don't care if we agree on the matter or not. Its good to have a second opinion. Since the chiefs are not here, you are my best choice."

He nodded his head and said,"We are many. We have been fishing and hunting non stop since we crossed the wall. There is always a hunting party out in wolfswood or the mountains. Still, we are barely getting by. The lands north of the wall were vast as well as the haunted forest. We had much more game. We need to sort that out. If we need to stay here to do that then so be it. And fuck the king. We will fight him if need be."

I smiled at him and said,"I arrived on the same conclusion. But I dont think we need to pick a fight with the king. We might be able to fight back but we would still pay for it in our people's blood. A leader should be ready for war but not go looking for it." He nodded while he ate. He would make a good commander. I should take more interest in teaching them the why as well as the how of fighting. My father's teachings, I thought to myself. I shook my head and said,"Very well, I want you to go and enter us into the lists. We will all enter as a team for the melee and on our own for the sword challenge. If nothing else, you lot can good experience from fighting proper swordsmen."

"Aye, Magnar. I will get it done", He said to me and left the tent. I went over to the Stark's tent. As I was walking over, I heard Lyanna voice say,"Is it true that he has fathered a bastard in the vale." I was still a good hundred yards from the tent. But I could hear them as if I was inside the tent. Curiosity got the best of me when I decided to listen. I knew Lyanna had been anxious the entire way here. I just wanted to find out the reason.

"Yes. But trust me Lya. He loves you. He is only young and he will change when you are married", I heard Ned say.

"Oh Ned. You can never change a man like that", I heard Lyanna say with a voice devoid of any hope. That explains a lot. They must be talking about Robert, I thought. I saw him fondling enough serving girls in one night. They must be betrothed.

I nodded at the guards as they announced my arrival. I entered to see only Ned and Lyanna in the tent. I could tell Lyanna had been crying.

"I beg your pardon but I came to see if lord Stark was here", I told them.

"He is with Lord Tully and Arryn. I could get him for you if you like", replied Ned.

"That would be lovely. I just need a quick word with him", I said to him. He nodded and turned to leave. I saw him shoot a guilty glance at Lyanna who smiled at him.

When Ned left, she said to me,"Are you really joining the lists?"

"Aye, my lady. I owe it to my people to try at least. But I figured that I would still ask Lord Stark's permission. I dont want to press my luck with the king", I said to her. She nodded and turned away from me with a sad look on her face. Suddenly, I felt guilty about spying on her. Even though it had been accidental.

"There are worse things than being married to a high lord of the realm", I said quietly. She turned to me with a sudden look of surprise.

"I didn't mean to spy on you, my lady. My hearing is just better than most people", I said to her. She looked at me and said,"how much did you hear?"

"Just that he has a bastard and you are not thrilled to be married to him", I said to her.

She stared at me before saying,"Its not just about the bastard. You saw him last night. Not only am I being sent away from my home. I am being married to a man who would bed anything that walks."

I thought about it for a while before saying,"You deserve better. Every girl deserves better than him. But unfortunately, you were born a stark." I didn't say that you would have to marry for politics. I left that part unsaid. But she understood it. She smiled at me sadly and said,"Its a shame that you are married, Lord Frost. Or you could steal me away. Like in the stories, where Lord Stark's daughter was stolen by a wildling." I smiled back at her and said,"Don't give up just yet. Wildlings often have more than one wife. And I could do a lot worse than you, my lady."

Which made her laugh hard. When she finally caught her breath, I said,"There. You look much better with a smile on your face. Nobody would steal you away if you are always moping around."

Lord Stark walked in followed by Brandon and Ned to see us both sharing a laugh. He smiled at Lyanna and said,"Its good to see you enjoying yourselves. You have been far too quiet lately."

"Lord Frost was just trying to cheer me up", she said by way of explanation.

"And he succeeded yet again", he said with a smile. I felt the happiness coming from all the Starks. Lyanna was after all the only daughter for lord stark. They all seem to care deeply for her.

"My thanks for cheering up my daughter, Lord Frost", Lord Stark said to me.

"Now what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked as he sat down behind his desk.

"I mean to compete in the melee and the sword challenge, my lord. I could use the gold to buy supplies for my people", I said to him. I didn't mention anything about the gold in the mountains being useless until the king died. But I didn't need to. I saw Lord Stark lean back in his chair in thought. Finally, he asked,"Don't you think that it would be prudent to stay out of sight from the king?"

"I thought so too. But then I thought if I lose the king would enjoy my defeat. But if I won then I would be striking a blow against his conspiring son. So, either way the king should be happy. And I dont mean to give him anymore reason to be aggravated with me", I told lord stark. He chewed that over and said,"That seems fair. You should prepare in that case. The melee would start at noon."

"Thank you, my lord", I said to him.

"But you only have 5 men with you. Others will be joining the melee in teams of 10 or more. I can lend you some men", Lord Stark suggested.

"Thank you for the offer, my lord. But that won't be necessary. If 5 men can't get the job done then 10 won't either", I said to him. The real reason I didn't want them was because they would only get in the way of my trained soldiers. I would rather have 5 trained than 10 untrained fighters. But I didn't want to imply that their soldiers were weaker.

Lord Stark nodded and said,"Very well. Good luck."

"You better win, Frost. The north will be watching and I will be betting on you", Brandon said to me.

I laughed and said,"I will try to make you proud."

I nodded to lord stark one last time and made my way over to my tent. I told Harl and Errok who were standing guard to come inside. I entered to find Bael already waiting for me. I sat down beside Shadow and said,"Did you enter us in the lists?"

"Aye, Magnar. All of us in the melee. But only you, me, Jax, and Soren in the sword challenge", he said to me. He didn't enter Harl and Errok because their preferred weapons were warhammers. I should've thought of that. But that's why Bael was the smartest of the lot. He thought ahead.

I nodded to him and said,"Well, gather around. We need to go over our strategy to win this thing without dying or killing anyone. It might be a game to the southerners but we need to win this for our people." I met their eyes by one to see if they understood the weight of the task. They weren't all made centurions for nothing. I saw the grim expressions and nods from all of them. We spent the next hour or so planning our strategy. When I was finally convinced that we had a good plan, I told them to put the armor on. They put their armor on alongside me. Once we were all ready, I picked up my shield and exited the tent. We made our way to the arena that had been set up.

I entered to find more than 500 men standing in the large field with their armor on. Some looked very well equipped while others were in scrap metals. I looked on one side to see a raised platform where the king was sitting alongside Lord Whent and his family. The prince was also next to the king with their kingsguards. Brandon had been right. The kingsguard were not participating in the melee. I saw the Starks sitting a good 30 feet away from the king along with the Arryns and Tullys as well as Robert. The one side on the right of the king's platform looked to be filled with minor nobles. The other two sides were packed with the small folk. I was brought out of my observation as a voice shouted,"My Lords and Ladies. We are gathered here today to begin the tourney for the name day of Lord Whent's daughter. The first event of the day would be the melee. The second event of the day would be the sword challenge. The winners of the melee would take 10 thousand gold and 20 thousand for the sword challenge. Tomorrow would be the day for Jousting alone. The winner of which would be rewarded by 30 thousand dragons." The crowd was roaring as the prizes were being announced. They had probably never seen that much gold in their life. The announcer turned to the king and said,"With the blessings of his grace, Aerys Targaryen, the second of his name, king of the roynar, the andals and the first men, protector of the realm, we begin this tournament." The crowd was roaring. The king waved a lazy hand at the annoncer who said,"Let the melee begin."

The words barely came out of his mouth as the chaos around me broke. People charged at each other. We had been standing with our backs to each other. As soon as the fight began, we spread out. I quickly disarmed 2 soldiers that were within my reach. I felt the rest of my companions do the same. To my right was Bael and left was Harl. I saw Harl smash his hammer into the shield of a knight. The wooden shield shattered and the knight fell clutching his broken arm. To my right, I saw Bael disarm one soldier and cut the leg of another. The disarmed soldier made their way out of the pit. But the soldier whose leg was cut refused to leave and charged me. I turned his blade aside and smashed my shield into his face. He fell to the ground cold. As soon as the initial charged passed, I moved back into the middle of our circle.

My orders had been simple. Spread out enough so that we each have about 5 or 6 feet between us. But remain in a circle with our backs to each other. I would then move back to the middle of the circle. If anyone got past them, they would be dealt by me alone. I would also be in the position to call out orders or offer assistance as I saw fit.

I called loudly,"Pull." And my men slowly backed in towards me. When I thought the circle was tight enough without them accidentally hitting each other, I said,"Hold." They stopped. The rest went like clockwork. I had put Errok, Soren, and Harl next to each other. Because they were all over 7 feet tall, the fighters were hesitant to approach them. To their credit, they made quick work of the fighters. I had specifically told them to strike shields not helms. I didn't want to kill these poor bastards. The smart ones saw when they were defeated. The stubborn ones got dealt with in getting knocked out cold. A few times I saw Bael and Jax struggle against a fighter of equal or higher skill. I would assist them in disarming those. Slowly, we made our way around the arena. As the melee went along, the lost fighters were walking out or being carried out. Soon enough, there were only three teams left in the arena. I saw only two members left of a team fighting back to back desperately. The one team on the right walked towards us as the other finished the two fighters off. I saw a man who must be their ring leader step forward. His men soon spread out around us. I scanned the men. The other team was just about done with those two fighters. As soon as the team facing us spread out, I yelled,"Shield, Jax." I ran to Jax who quickly crouched while lifting his shield over his head. I stepped on his shield and launched myself at the leader of the team facing us. He had an oak tree on his shield. I saw his eyes go big with surprise as I launched myself at him. He raised his wooden shield to block my strike. I followed by using my momentum to barrel into him shield first. I saw him lose his balance. I stepped forward and quickly swept his erratic last attempt with his sword aside and slammed the but of my sword into his face. He fell down hard and I turned to see two of his men coming at me from both side. I stepped under the swing of the one on my left and tripped him with my leg onto the other. I looked to see that they hadn't engaged my men yet. My charge at their leader had shocked them. which was why I had done it. They had more numbers. I knew they would never suspect it. I quickly made my way over to my men. Two of the men got in my way. I quickly disarmed one while Bael came up behind the second and slammed his shield into his head. He hit the ground hard. I quickly made my way back to the center of the circle to see all the remaining fighters staring at us. To my great surprise, the bastards that were facing us turned and walked over to the other team.

One said,"Allies against these bastards? we can sort ourselves out later."

The leader of the other team stepped forward. A man as tall as Robert. He was wearing a hand on his chest. He looked at the fallen leader of the other team and then us. I saw him observe me and my men. He looked at the precise circle that we were standing in. Some of us weren't even facing them but my men never took a step away from the circle. He looked at the other team's fighter and said,"Done. Get your men to fall on either side of my men." The men took their positions. They stood there for a second as I saw the leader thinking quickly. He saw him ground himself and felt his emotions get steady. He was about to make his move. I saw him draw a breath and yell,"To me." And he charged directly at Bael who was in front of me. I had, however, seen this coming. I knew that he saw there was simply no way for him to get into the circle. Even if anyone did, they would end up facing me like all the others before him.

"Shieldwall", I yelled. My men quickly pulled back in and formed a line in front of me. I yanked Bael back. Harl and Soren closed the gap by moving in together. Bael was a capable fighter but he couldn't stop the charge of that many men alone. But Harl, Soren and Errok were now the center of the shieldwall. Those big bastards would hold the charge. The other team smashed into the soldiers and I saw my soldiers take a step back. I planted my shield in the back on Harl who was center and Bael did the same to Errok. And the charge stopped.

"Hand", I yelled as I stepped back quickly. Bael followed my lead by stepping back. My other men scattered and quickly formed a circle around the men. I saw the leader look around quickly but I didn't give him a chance to reorganize. I quickly stepped forward and engaged him as I yelled,"Charge." My men engaged the soldiers. I was occupied with the leader and two of his fighters. Bael tried to come to my aid but I told him to assist the others. Killing is far more easier, I thought to myself as I parried one blow after the other. I was back-paddling as I traded blows with them. When I was far enough, the leader told them to spread out. I took the opportunity to look at how my men were doing. I saw Soren and Jax were out of the fight. Only 3 of them remained. But they had also taken out quite a few of the other fighters. Only 7 of them were left against my three men. They would have to take care of that themselves. I had my own fight to win. The three fighters started circling me. I could feel the satisfaction coming from all of them. They thought they had me. If I had been intent on killing, they would all be dead already. But I was solely fighting with metalcraft. I wasn't using any other crafting. For one, I didn't want to attract the king's attention. And second, I felt like I would be cheating if I did that. But even then, I was faster and stronger than most. I could go toe to toe with any of my men in terms of strength even without my crafting. My marat heritage allowed me that extra strength and stamina.

I loosened my grip on my shield. One of the fighters circling me wasn't holding a shield. I waited for them to engage me. As I had predicted, the leader took the first jab at me. I deflected his sword and threw my shield with all my strength at the shield-less fighter on my right. My shield hit his helm with such force that he was lifted of his feet. I quickly dove out of the way of the third fighter who had come up behind me. I rolled into the dive and came up facing both of the fighters. I didn't bother going for my shield again. I shifted my sword to my left hand and drew my gladius with my right. This would have to be good old Aleran style fight. I didn't wait for them. I stepped up and engaged them. The leader with the hand on his chest was a good fighter. But the man with him wasn't so much. I stayed focused on the leader and gave one opening after another to the other man. Soon enough he circled behind me. I felt him bring his sword down on my head from above. The blow wouldn't have killed me because of my helm but it sure would have any others who weren't wearing aleran steel. I spun out of the way at the very last moment. The second man looked up in surprise to see that he was now in between me and his leader. I slammed the butt of my gladius in his helm. He fell down like a log. I looked up at the leader. I could see uncertainty in his eyes. I also noticed the hush that had fallen over the crowd. I looked around and the other man's eyes followed mine. I saw why the crowd was quiet. It was only me, him and Bael left standing. Technically, Harl was still standing as well. But he was in bad shape. I saw that he was bleeding from his legs as well as his arm. I told him to stand down. He had done more than enough. I saw him visibly relax and drop his shield. He sheathed his sword and limped his way towards the exit.

Bael fell in behind the only man left standing.

"It looks like the tables have turned", I smiled at him. He looked at me and then at Bael.

"It isn't over until its over", he said to me. I could respect the man's will to fight.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Daemon Allyrion", he replied. I didn't know what house that was. Probably a minor one. I was only familiar with the large houses so far.

I stepped forward and the fight began again. He was a good fighter. But it was two against one now. He tried to keep an eye on both of us. He looked at Bael for just a moment and I slammed into his shield. He fell straight into Bael's reach who put the point of his sword on his neck. He dropped his sword and shield.

I saw the announcer stand up and say,"My lords and ladies. The champions of the melee." The crowd went wild. I looked over at our company to see them all standing and clapping loudly. I took a look at the king to see the king was laughing. He stood up and a hush fell over the crowd.

He said while laughing,"Who would have thought that the wildlings would win the melee." I saw his eyes flicker at the prince. As long as he wasn't thinking about us, I was happy with it.

"The greatest sword challenge will begin in an hour", the announcer said as the king walked away from the arena. I saw the announcer make his way over to me and said,"My lord. You can collect your winnings at Lord Whent's tent." I nodded and thanked him. I quickly made my way to my men with Bael. They were in bad shape. The healers were busy with so many others. My men weren't in danger of dying but I took them to my tent anyway. Harl was the one who was bleeding the most. I helped him take his armor off. I made a tub with earthcraft and filled it by pulling water from the ground. I helped him get into the water. As soon as he got in the water, I started sealing his wounds. They weren't complicated. One by one I went through all of the men. They were all bruised and cut in several places. None of the injuries were serious thankfully. Once they had all been healed, I drained the water and filled it with fresh water again. I took off my clothes and slipped into the water myself. I had a bruise here and there but otherwise I was unharmed. But it just felt nice being in the water. I healed my bruises and relaxed.

I had barely closed my eyes when Brandon walked into my tent.

"That was bloody something, Frost", He said to me. He smiled from ear to ear. I laughed with him and said,"How much did you win?"

He smiled and said,"Only 100 dragons. But I will win more on the next event. I am betting on you again."

"I will try not to let you down", I told him. He laughed and said,"Get out of there and get dressed. You need to be in the arena soon." He was right. I stepped out of the tub and started drying myself. I slowly dressed. Bael helped me put my armor back on. I strapped my swords back my waist.

"Round two", I said mostly to myself. Brandon slapped my back and said,"Mark my words, Frost. It will be you against Ser Arthur bloody Dayne in the end." I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. This part of the tournament didn't require any planning. It was man versus man. I would have to adapt as I go. But I sure hated how everybody in the seven kingdoms unanimously agreed that he was the greatest swordsman. There was only one other man I had ever known to have had a reputation like that. It was my old swordmaster, Araris Valerian. If this man was the westeros equivalent of Araris then it would be difficult beating him. I sighed to myself. If nothing else, I would finally learn if my skill with the blade improved or not. I would finally get a proper opponent. Bael must have guessed what I was thinking because he said,"You will win, Magnar." I turned to look at him and said,"Why?"

He met everyone's eyes and then finally mine. "Because I have never seen you lose. I have seen you fight much worse and win. I have seen you create cities and tame volcanoes. But most of all because these southerners are fighting for themselves or some other petty cause. But you are fighting for your people. You know what this gold means to our people. You know what is at stake. They might have skill with the blade. But you have the thirst to win, a reason to win. That's why."

I smiled at him. Bael was a good man. He hardly ever spoke. But when he did, it was worth listening to. I picked up my shield. I thought of my people and squared my shoulders as I walked out of the tent.


	21. The Greatest Sword of Westeros

We made our way towards the arena. We waited behind the crowd of people waiting to enter the arena. I heard someone call my name. I turned to see the prince along with a few kingsguards.

"That was quite the show in the melee, my lord. I look forward to seeing you fight in this challenge", he said to me. I thanked him. I looked at his companions and he said,"Where are my manners? This is my wife Elia Martell, her handmaiden and friend Ashara Dayne, and you already know Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Barristan Selmy." I looked at the fragile little princess and the purple eyed beauty beside her. I nodded at each of them and said,"A pleasure to meet you all. This is Brandon Stark." Princess Elia stepped forward and said,"You are quite the surprise this year, my lord. I never thought I would ever enjoy the melee as much as I did. I am glad the king didn't kill you."

I laughed at that and said,"Me too, princess." They all smiled at that. I looked at the kingsguard and said,"You would be joining this challenge, I assume." They nodded and the prince replied,"Of course. Not all the kingsguard. But you can hardly expect the seven greatest knights of the realm to miss the challenge for the greatest sword." I nodded and said,"I didn't expect to. At least I would finally meet some decent swordsmen." Prince laughed at that and said,"You will at that. It won't be as easy as the melee. Speaking of the melee, I saw the way you fought. The tactics and the way you handle your blade makes it clear you were taught swordsmanship. I didn't know that there were many sword-masters beyond the wall."

I smiled at that and said,"Whoever said that I am from beyond the wall?" All of their party's interest peaked at that. I heard the announcer say the competition will begin shortly. I said to the prince,"I beg your forgiveness. But I must attend to business. There's money to be made." They laughed at that and started departing. I turned to Brandon who said,"I should be making my way to our party as well. Good luck Frost." The entire time he said that he was still eyeing the departing party. I saw the purple eyed girl look back and smile at us. As soon as they left I turned to Brandon and said,"Don't do anything stupid. They will be sitting right next to the king. Its better to avoid his attention." Brandon smirked at me and said,"I know that Frost. You don't have to worry about me."

"Besides out of the both of us, I am the wildling. So only I am allowed to have multiple wives", I told him with a smirk of my own. He laughed loudly at that and said,"Is that a challenge, Frost? Because that one you will lose. Besides keep your head in the game. Or I might lose money that I have bet on you." He walked away to where the prince had entered the arena. I could see the confidence in his stride. Brandon had a likable quality to himself that drew people to him. I shook my head and followed the crowd of competitors. They divided the competitors into 2 rows. Then 200 pairs entered the arena. I entered to find myself opposite a man who was equipped with scraps of metal. He charged at me when the fights began. I disarmed him easily. I was told to wait on the opposite side of the arena with other winners. The losers were either walking out the same entrance or being carried out. I looked to see that all of my men had made the first round as well. we waited and again they split us. we entered again 200 pairs at a time. The next couple of rounds weren't particularly interesting. I quickly disarmed my opponents and walked to the winner's corner. After my fifth round I saw that it was only Bael left fighting in the arena with Ser Barristan.

He was driving Bael back. To Bael's credit, he was doing everything in his power to keep the other away. Bael wasn't able to go on the offensive much. Here and there, he would try a jab or two. Kingsguard feigned towards the left and Bael went to block. But instead got the shield knocked out of his hand. I saw Bael quickly draw his gladius. He finally went on the offensive. But the kingsguard was able to block every blow with just the one sword. I saw the kingsguard dig his back foot in and shift the weight. But Bael didn't. He kept the offensive up. The kingsguard quickly lunged forward and swept Bael's swords aside. He went inside Bael's reach and pressed the edge of his sword to Bael's neck. Bael dropped his swords to applause from the crowd. I saw Bael bent to pick up his swords and the kingsguard helped him.

Next round there were less than 200 competitors left standing. I found myself opposite Ser Barristan.

"Lord Frost", He said to me.

"Ser Barristan", I said to him. I never heard the announcer. Barristan began the moment he could. I felt him charge. He was remarkable with the blade. I blocked and parried one blow after the other. His sword whirled left and right beautifully. I waited and waited for the right moment. He kept up his assault which I was able to block or parry. I know he was trying to find a weakness. I never provided any. Then after a long time, I felt his emotions get uncertain. That's what I had been waiting for. And I quickly side stepped his strike to begin my offensive. I used my speed and strength with every blow. We danced back and forth for a while. During one of my assaults, I felt him steady his emotions again. I saw him dig his back foot in just as he had done with his fight with Bael. I dropped my shield just a heartbeat before he moved. The kingsguard lunged forward and I dropped to my knees. His sword passed above my head. I felt his emotions panic for a moment. Then he looked down and saw the point of my sword resting below his neck. I saw him stare at me with disbelief. Then he dropped his sword. The arena erupted in applause. I looked around to see that ours was the last fight to conclude. I looked around to see that Soren was the only one left from my men.

Soren went further than I had expected any of my men to go. Primarily because he was over 7 feet tall. His strength aided him in overpowering his opponents. He finally lost to Ser Oswant Whent but not before he broke the kingsguards white shield in half. And soon there were only 4 of us left. Ser Arthur, Ser Oswald, me and a lordling from vale by the name of Yohn Royce.

My name was called first. I walked into the arena and waited. After what felt like an age, the announcer said,"Ser Arthur Dayne." Finally, I thought to myself. Arthur Dayne walked in and instead of facing me stood beside me about 20 feet away. Oh damn. He wasn't fighting me but waiting for his own challenger. Ser Oswald became my opponent and Yohn Royce for Ser Arthur Dayne. The announcer yelled and we began. I felt my opponent's emotions. He was a little wary of me. After some early short exchanges, he became more confident. I saw him center himself and come at me. He followed with highs and lows. I kept blocking him. I didn't see any openings. I let him drive me back until I was sure of his pattern. He would go high, high and then low again. After a few more exchanges, I changed tactics. As his sword came high at me again on my shield hand. I turned my shield arm out to block him with the rim of shield rather than the face of the shield. His sword clashed with my shield with an awkward angle and noise. It came back short and awkwardly. But it allowed me the moment of time that I had needed. I went in for his sword side low. He quickly went low with his sword but left himself open to my shield. He realized it a moment too late and tried to hide behind his own shield. But I was faster than him. My shield connected with his helm and he fell down a little dazed. He tried to put his sword up and I quickly swept it away to rest my blade on his neck. He yielded and I yanked him to his feet. A few guards came to help him out of the arena. I looked to see the other two still fighting. Arthur was clearly the better of the two but the other man was very good too. He was on the back foot but he stayed in the fight. I saw him get more and more desperate to put distance in himself and Arthur. But Arthur eventually got inside his guard and knocked the sword from his hands to the crowd's roaring applause.

The announcer stood up and yelled,"the final two contestants, my lords and ladies. Ser Arthur Dayne and Lord Frost. They have both proven themselves exceptional with the blade. And now to answer the question that everyone here wants to know the answer to. The greatest sword of Westeros. Let the fight begin." A hush fell over the crowd as we starting circling each other. From the corner of my eye, I saw even the king leaning forward. I heard Brandon yell,"Get him Frost."

I raised my sword to Arthur in a salute and he returned it. Then Ser Arthur threw his shield away and pulled out a second long sword from his hip. I eyed him and then threw my own shield away and mirrored him. I shifted my sword to my left hand and drew my gladius with the right. He had two long swords which seemed odd to me. In Alera, we always used a long sword and a gladius in the duels. He swung his swords around his body a couple of times. He seemed like he was used to using two blades during combat. Not many people were. They could barely keep track of one blade much less two. I let my long sword hang low and put my gladius on my shoulder as I smiled at him while we circled each other. To others it may look like I was being careless, but it was an old tactic. The long sword was the low guard and the gladius was the high guard on my shoulder. It was meant to lull the others into thinking you are being careless but in fact you were in a good fighting position. I saw Ser Arthur finally move forward. The crowd grew in a collective breath as our swords clashed. I centered myself and drew metal in to myself. I filtered all the other noise out of my brain and focused solely on him. I think he was thinking of pushing me on the defensive. But I stood my ground. Our blades danced left and right, low and high. Yet neither of us gave an opening to the other. We went around the arena as we dodged each other's blades. We fought for what felt like an hour. I put all of my strength and speed into my attacks. But his blades were always there. I knew that I could fight longer than him but he was a man grown and he knew war. He could go a long time as well. I would have been able to overpower him with furycraft but for obvious reasons I didn't want to do that. After yet another round of engagement, we parted ways. I saw his controlled breathing and absolute emotions. The man did not betray anything. He was in the moment. He fought purely on his instinct. He made me want to rip my hair out.

And just like that an old memory came back to me. The only man who made me want to rip my hair out was my swordmaster. And suddenly I saw Ser Arthur in a new light. A westerosi version of Araris Valerian indeed. He even fought with the same style as Araris. He fought lines rather than curves. No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to beat Araris. After one particularly hard session, I was approached by lord Antillus. He told me that every fighting style has a weakness. And Araris's style didn't cope well with brawling. I remember walking into the practice next day. The look on my swordsmaster's face when I punched him in the face was priceless. I still lost spectacularly but it was one of my proudest moments. I smiled to myself and engaged Ser Arthur again. I pulled on my metal furies and started metalcrafting the blade. One of the best things about metalcrafting is that you can manifest your metal furies through your blade. This will harden your blade beyond belief. So much so that it would cut through even diamonds.

I engaged him again and the fight began anew. I weaved this way and that. He gave back as good as he got. Until finally I stepped under his left hand swing and brought my gladius with all the strength and speed I could. He brought his left sword back up to block the blow but my gladius cut through it clean. I didn't want to cut through Dawn since the sword had been in his family for thousands of years. Besides I wasn't sure if I could or not. It was rumored that it was made of star metal. Ser Arthur stared at his sword in disbelief. Before he could recover, I kicked him in the stomach hard. He fell backwards and I followed. I let my instincts take over as this would have to be a street fight. He rolled backwards and came back on his feet. He was too good a fighter to be caught on a disadvantage. But he lost his helm in the process. He threw his broken sword away and parried my blows. We began the dance anew again. But this time I had a tactic. I drove him back. Finally as he was about to take yet another step back, I slammed my foot on his front foot. Suddenly instead of moving back, he was jerked forward. I saw him try to bring his sword between us. but I blocked it with my longsword. As he jerked forward, I slammed my forehead into his nose. I heard the crowd gasp. I saw his nose break and he reeled on his feet.

I didn't allow him time to recover. I quickly followed by more strike. But you have to give it to the man. He was shaken, bleeding and shield-less but he blocked every single one of my blows. I barreled into him and kicked him again. But yet again he came out of it mostly standing. After a few blows, I decided to try yet another brawling technique I had learnt. I gave him a small opportunity and he quickly fell into an offensive. His sword was everywhere at the same time. He was putting everything he had into his final assault driving me back. I waited and waited as he drove me back. Then finally, he leaned forward and went low. I blocked the sword by crossing my swords. Then I brought my right foot through the top of my swords. My foot connected hard with his head and he fell backwards. I stepped up to him and he quickly tried to put his sword up yet again. I slammed my foot down on his arm and raised my swords. I heard a woman scream as I brought my swords down and buried them deep. Something in me growled with satisfaction.

I stepped back to see that a hush had fallen over the crowd. I looked at the nobles to see that Lady Ashara was standing and crying. She must have been the one who had screamed. I looked at her and then I looked at my opponent. My sword were buried in a cross around his neck. He was bleeding but still breathing.

"Fear not, my lady. He will live", I said.

The announcer stood up and said shakily,"Your champion, Alric Frost." Brandon jumped into the arena and picked me up while the rest of my company started clapping. The crowd seemed to pick up on it and followed soon after. Finally the king stood up and slowly the noise died down. I told Brandon to put me down. I looked at the king to see him laughing again as he said,"I am glad I never killed you wildling. This has been the best tourney in a long time." I could tell that he was enjoying the prince's defeat. The king turned and left. I walked over to Arthur and yanked my swords out. I pulled him to his feet and he seemed a little wobbly on his feet. A few guards came and helped him out of the arena.

Brandon was laughing beside me still. I turned to him and asked,"How much did you win?" He laughed and said,"5000 dragons. I can't wait to see the look on Mace Tyrell's face." He went off to collect his money and I made my way over to my tent. I entered to find my men waiting for me. I went through them one by one. They were mostly unharmed. But I quickly healed their bruises and cuts. Bael was just helping me out of my armor when I heard someone call out my name. I told Jax to go look who it is. He came back and said,"It was a Tully soldier. They are asking you join them in their tent."

"Tell him that I will be there as soon as I have washed and changed", I told Jax. He nodded and left. I told Bael to take the others with him and collect our winnings from lord Whent. After I cleaned myself and changed into my lordly clothes, I went over to their tent. This tent was without the doubt the largest. I nodded at the guards and entered to find the tent crowded with most of our party there. They all congratulated me on my winnings. Ser Brynden Tully came over and shook my hands. He said,"That was the best swordplay I have ever seen. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Before I could respond, Robert chimed in,"Yeah. Where did you learn to fight like that, Frost?" I laughed and said,"From the greatest swordsman in Alera."

Lord Tully spoke up at that,"You really must be a prince to be trained by the finest swordsman in your land."

"A prince?" Ser Brynden said as he looked from his brother to me. I nodded and said,"Yes. But in a land far away from here and a land lost to me." He gave me some wine and said,"Here. You have earned it." I nodded my thanks and took the wine. After a good hour of merriment, I left the tent to follow lord stark out. We made our way to the Stark's tent. I entered to find Lyanna and Brandon sitting there with a young man.

Lord Stark stopped short and said,"Who is this?"

"This is Howland Reed", replied Lyanna. Howland Reed looked to be bruised from a fight and his clothes were also torn. House Reed was a ruling house of the north. The young man looked to be the same age as Ned but he was a little smaller. But then again, all the crannogmen were from what I knew of them. I thought back to my first time in winterfell. The Lord Reed from memory was pretty small too. Lord Stark looked at Howland Reed and asked,"What happened?"

"I was attacked by 3 Freys, my lord. They dont like us much. But when they learnt that I got past their bridge without paying the toll, they got even more angry", Howland Reed replied. I could feel cool anger coming from Lord Stark. Lyanna and Brandon's anger was just bouncing from them. Ned, on the other hand, felt more disgruntled than angry.

"3 against one? I will teach those damned Freys the meaning of this", Brandon said as he stood up.

"No, you will not", said Lord Stark. Brandon fumed and said,"They attacked our banner-man, father."

"I know. But you are the heir to the north. You can't go fighting in the streets", Lord Stark said to him.

"I thank you for your concern Lord Brandon. But lady Lyanna already taught them a lesson", Howland Reed said. Everyone looked at Lyanna and she just shrugged and said,"I found a training sword and beat them off. I wasn't going to just stand there and let them beat our banner-man." Lord Stark sighed and shook his head.

I saw Brandon preparing to say something so I cut in,"How did you get past the twins?"

Howland Reed looked at me and said,"Oh, like I said the Freys dont like us much. I also didn't have any coin. So, I decided to swim across rather than beg those Freys." Another house of the north that wasn't particularly rich. But I smiled at him and said,"That is quite the river to swim, my lord. You have some nerve." He smiled at me weakly and thanked me. Lord Stark seemed to pick up that I was trying to distract Brandon. He nodded at me and said,"Truly. You must be a skilled swimmer to do so." He turned to Brandon and said,"Why don't you go to Lord Tully and ask him to send a healer or a maester over for lord Reed." Brandon nodded and left. I could see why the northerners loved the Starks. The way they got angry as if someone had attacked their family not their banner-man. The way they cared for Howland Reed. A maester came and inspected his wounds. They were minor but he gave him some salve to put on anyway. Then the Stark's gave him some fresh clothes to change into and invited him to come along to the feast with them. I could feel the gratitude coming from Howland Reed. He would forever be a Stark man, I thought to myself.

As we walked to the feast, I noticed that Lord Stark and Brandon had mostly let go of their anger but not Lyanna. It was still there. Interesting. I didn't think that she was the one with the most anger. But her anger was controlled and cold whereas Brandon's was wild and hot. We entered the keep to find it crowded already. All the minor and major houses were there now. The king sat upon the throne lazily. We took our share of food and drinks. A few of the younger lordlings or knights came over to congratulate me. I lost track of the names as they introduced themselves one after the other. One of them asked to look at my sword and I passed it to him. One by one they all admired the blade. Then I saw Ser Arthur approach with Lady Ashara. He might have lost but he still commanded respect. All the little lordlings just melted out of his way as one of them gave my sword back to me.

"Congratulation, Lord Frost", he said to me with a smile.

"Thank you, Ser Arthur", I replied. He eyed my sword and said,"May I?"

I passed him my sword and he said,"It is light as a feather. But I swear it hits with the weight of Dawn behind it."

I nodded to him and said,"Spell forged. Only one of its kind in the entire world." He raised his eyebrows as a few started whispering at that.

"How did you manage to acquire a blade such as this beyond the wall", he asked me.

"Its not from beyond the wall. Its from a land far away from westeros. As to how, I broke my own sword trying to save a man's life. So, he gave it to me to thank me", I told him. He nodded as he swung the sword a few times and passed it back to me saying,"You have led an interesting life my lord. You are certainly a worthy owner of it. I have never seen anyone fight quite like you. You deserve the winnings and all the praise with it." I thank him again. I liked him. He was a humble man. Barely any ego to him. Even though he was one of the best swordsmen around.

"You are not bad yourself. In fact, I would call us almost equals. The only reason I won is because I am familiar with your fighting style. And it does not cope well with brawling", I smiled to him. He laughed at that and said,"I learnt that. I would have to work on that. Unfortunately, I didn't have many opportunities to practice such fighting styles." I laughed in turn and said,"I hope you don't. Otherwise, I might not be able to beat you the next time." Everyone shared a laugh at that. He frowned and said,"May I look at your other blade?"

I was surprised but then I remembered that I had cut through his other sword with my gladius. So, naturally he was curious. I passed my gladius to him. He took at eyed the blade as he ran his hand over the blade. He said almost absent minded,"My sword was castle forged and I polished it daily. I fought many duels and battles with it. Yet yours cut through it as if it was nothing." Many of the gathered were eyeing my blade with hunger.

"Aleran steel is stronger than regular steel", I said to him. I didn't say that if you had metalcrafting, you could harden it to cut through diamonds.

He nodded and said,"A bit small for a blade though." I shrugged and said,"Its not for amateurs. Its for those who know how to fight. To get inside the guard and fight in closed quarters."

He nodded and passed the blade back to me.

I turned to Lady Ashara and said,"I hope that I didn't frighten you, my lady. It was not my intention to harm your brother. But he is too good a fighter to simply disarm."

She smiled at me and said,"Oh, its alright. I just never thought that I would ever see my brother lose. It just frightened me. You could make it up to me with a dance. Did they teach you how to dance beyond the wall my lord?" I could feel the others envy through my watercrafting. "You could say that", I said to her with a smile as I held my arm out to her. She took my arm and I led her to the floor. I led her around and around the dance floor as we spun and weaved around. She smelled like roses and laughter. So full of joy and life. I dont remember how long we danced for. But I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Ser Barristan standing behind me. "I would love to steal a dance if the lady doesn't mind", He said to us. She nodded and said,"It would be an honor Ser Barristan." I was sad to see the dance end. It was my fondest memory of the tourney. She said,"You certainly can dance, my lord." Ser Barristan laughed and said,"In more than one sense of the word." We all laughed. I kissed her hand and bid her farewell. I made my way over to our company. A few more of the lords had joined them.

The conversation turned to tourney and politics. I found myself standing with Brandon, Robert, Lyanna, Ned and Howland. Brandon danced with a few ladies while Robert was being himself. I felt Lyanna's anger and turned to see her scowling. But not in the direction of Robert. She was staring at a couple of knights. Brandon soon came over and when he saw Lyanna's face, he said,"What is the matter, Lya?"

Lyanna turned to him and said,"Those 3 squires serving those knights are the ones who were beating Howland Reed." We all turned our attention towards the said knights and their squires. Robert suddenly turned to Howland and said,"If you like I can get you a horse and some armor. You can defend your honor tomorrow." Lord Reed smiled at him and said,"Thank you, my lord. But I am small as are my people. We are not well suited to jousting. Our hands are made for spears and bows not lances." Brandon put his arm around him and said,"Don't you worry, Howland. If they even say a word to you, I will skin them alive." Howland Reed smiled while Robert laughed at that. Brandon turned to Ned and said,"How long are you going to keep staring at her, Ned? Just ask her for a dance. She will say yes. She has danced with at least a dozen different lords and knights. You are a Stark. She will be honored to dance with you." Ned had been eyeing Ashara Dayne the whole while. I couldn't blame him and he wasn't alone. If I didn't have a million things running through my mind, I would be staring at her too. Ned was shy though. He made excuses that he wasn't interested that even made Lyanna laugh. He scowled at her. Brandon finally had enough and said,"If you aren't going to ask her then I will ask her for you."

I saw the sudden panicking look that Ned gave Brandon. He tried to stop his brother but Brandon had already walked away. He approached Lady Ashara as she was standing with Princess Elia and few other ladies. His stride confident and shoulders squared. I saw him bow and greet the princess and the ladies. After a short while, he walked back with lady Ashara following him. Ned looked like he had seen a ghost. Brandon smiled at him and jerked his head towards dance floor where Lady Ashara waited. I saw Lyanna push him and say,"Go. Its not polite to keep a lady waiting." Ned looked at her as if begging for help. He finally sighed and walked to the dance floor. They soon started dancing. Ned had eyes only for her but I saw her eyes flicker over towards us. I followed her eyes to see that she was eyeing Brandon. The music stopped and Lyanna started clapping. We soon followed then others in the hall. Ned kissed her hand and walked over to us. He punched Brandon in the stomach lightly but he had a smile on his face. The Stark siblings made me miss my family more than anyone else. I missed the companionship and the jokes we played on each other. Not too long after people started departing from the hall. I looked over at Lord Stark and he motioned with his head towards the door. I nodded and led my party over to him. We left for our tents. Lyanna, Robert and Brandon were all teasing Ned the entire way back. I felt sorry for the lad.

I bid them farewell and went to my tent. I entered to find 2 chests sitting in the center. One twice as big as the other. I went over to Shadow and sat beside him. As I scratched his ears, I thought to myself about the next day. It was the last day of the tourney. With all the lords of the realm, it was my best opportunity to find some good deals. I eyed the chests as I thought about my people. I had a feeling that the tourney was the easy part. Tomorrow would prove more difficult than swinging blades.


	22. The Jousting

The next day turned out to be very fruitful. I broke my fast with all the other lords in our party. As we were eating, Lord Tully said,"Its a shame that you are not competing in the jousting Lord Frost. It would've been nice to see you win all three competitions." I laughed along with others and I said,"It would've been fun but my people dont joust. I have no experience doing that. So, I will just sit back and enjoy the day. Besides I have other things on my mind."

"Oh, like what? If you dont mind my asking?" he replied back.

"I dont mind. I actually was going to bring it up soon anyway. I need to buy rations and supplies for my people. Whatever anyone can sell me", I replied to him. I saw him lean back with a glint in his eye. I also saw Lord Stark and Arryn take an interest in the conversation.

Good, I thought to myself. I have all of their attention now. And since I have no idea of what is fair price, the other's presence will bring a fairer deal. Reach and the Riverlands were the main kingdoms to buy crops from. I would rather buy it from the Riverlands since they were closer and I had been their guest.

"What exactly are you looking to buy?" he asked me.

"Wheat, Barley, peas, beans and oats. Anything you can sell to me really. I have plenty of mouths to feed. I will also need the transportation for those. I also need to buy horses. We barely have any", I told him. He leaned back in his chair again while Lord Arryn said,"Careful. You dont want to spend all your gold here."

I shrugged and said,"What's the point of gold if I cant even feed my people." At which they all nodded. I could feel some sympathy coming from them. I turned to Lord Tully and said,"So what can you sell me?"

He sighed and said,"All of them but lets talk about transportation first. Its not worth it for me or anyone really to cart that stuff all the way to the wall and bring the carts back empty. Or do you have anything that you can sell me?"

I chewed my food as I thought about it and said,"I can sell you steel." We went back and forth for a while until we reached an agreement. He will sell me 500 barrels each of the 5 crops and then 100 barrels of seeds for each. That got some curious glares from me. I bet they were wondering where I was going to plant the seeds. That brought the total to 600 barrels each. The price of which was agreed to be 4 dragons per barrel. Since winter still hadn't ended, the crops were expensive to buy. But if anyone knew the price of crops during winter, that was the Starks. And Lord Stark said it was fair price for winter. I also purchased 2000 dragons worth of leather. That amount of leather would ensure that 25 to 30 legions are properly equipped. We wouldn't have that many legions if we put a sword in every child's hand. But it was one less thing to worry for me. So I made the deal. The transportation was agreed to be from seagard via ship. It would save us time and energy rather than the carts. I agreed to pay another 1000 dragons for the transportation. Most of which will go to the ships and the lord of seagard. Lord Tully had the maester draw the contract and I signed it. With Lord Stark and Arryn being the witnesses. I could tell that Lord Tully was immensily pleased with himself. So much so that he said he will give me 10 horses as a gift for the beginning of a long trading relationship.

Other than that, he wouldn't be able to sell me many horses. Which was disappointing because that was one of the major things that the legions were missing. The maester was left in my tent along with Bael to count the gold. After breaking our fast, we made our way to the arena. Every knight worth their penny was there. There were so many men with horses running around that it was hard to find the way to the arena. They made the knights enter from opposite ends and didn't even bother to organize them. There were simply too many. I saw the first knight lose and he was marked with paint brush to ensure they didn't keep trying over and over. I thought that jousting was rather unnecessary. How the hell is this ever going to help on the battlefield? I mean unless you were throwing your cavalry against the enemy's. That would also be pretty dumb since they would just end up mostly butchering each other. You want the cavalry to smash the side of the enemy or wherever a weakness emerges. The lances were good I suppose for the front of the line but not if you were in the back of the line. You would just kill your own men with just momentum. They would also slow down the cavalry. So, the benefit was really not much.

With that being said, I must admit that it was still pretty entertaining to watch. I could understand why this was the highest payout of the tournament. Every time they charged, the crowd seems to hold its breath. Most were dropped on the first tilt while others lasted longer. I saw the prince and the kingsguard joust. They were exceptional. But then again, they had to be. After the first 2 rounds, the competition became more and more interesting. Brandon was telling me who was who during the whole thing. It wasn't until the third round that something truly interesting happened. A knight wearing a mismatched armor entered the pavilion and challenged three knights. I knew almost immediately that it was Lyanna. She spoke gruffly so she could sound like a man. But I could just smell her from where I was sitting. Also she was carrying a laughing godswood tree on her shield. On top of that, the knights she challenged were the ones whose squires had beaten Howland Reed. She had excused herself earlier. I didn't think much of it because many people were taking small breaks to go to the privy and such. I looked around at my company to see if anyone else had noticed. Only Brandon and Lord Stark smelled curious but I couldn't tell if they suspected. The knights obviously accepted the challenge.

She rode against all of them and dropped them all from their saddles. It was a brilliant piece of horsemanship. My mother would have been proud. Lyanna was born to ride a horse. When she finally rode down the third knight in the second round, she boldly told them to teach their squires honor and that would be ransom enough for their horses and armor. The crowd was applauding the chivalry and gallantry. If only they knew, I smiled to myself. I was having the time of my life until I heard the king speak behind me.

"Take off your helmet, so that I may award your bravery", he said to Lyanna. Well fuck, I thought to myself. I turned to see what would Lyanna do. Silence filled the arena as Lyanna boldly said,"No." And she just rode out of the arena. The king indeed proved that he was mad. He had spit flying from his mouth as he yelled at his guards and the prince to find this knight and bring him to the king. The tourney of merriment had turned to terror. Everything stopped as people went searching for this mysterious knight. I excused myself and made my way toward my tent. As soon as I was far enough from the crowd, I veiled myself and took to the air. I hovered in the air while searching for her. I found her maybe a mile or so away from the arena near a small pond. She was quickly taking off all of her armor off and throwing it in the pond. I scanned the surroundings to see if anyone else was close to her. No one was anywhere near her but the prince was making his way towards the pond. He would see her soon. I thought quickly as to what to do. I felt guilty about not wanting to reveal my abilities to her. I could kill the prince, I suppose. But that would open a whole new mess. I decided to land a little ways behind the prince. I would have to watch and see how this goes. If I had to choose between Lyanna and the prince, then I guess I would just have to kill the guy. Which is a shame since I didn't really hate the guy. He seemed nice enough. He quietly made his way through the trees. I was maybe 100 meters behind him. I quietly trailed him.

Slowly I trailed the prince. I saw him freeze when he saw Lyanna. He hid behind a tree as he watched her discard her armor. I slowly snuck up close to him as I saw him finally reveal himself to Lyanna.

"Of all the things I had imagined, this was not one of them. My lady", he finished with a bow. Lyanna just stared at him and then quickly threw the last remaining piece of armor into the lake. She quickly grabbed the shield. Which was the last piece of evidence but the prince grabbed the shield as well. I was now barely 10 feet from them. I quietly took my knife in my hand. Just as I was about to step toward the prince, he said,"Fear not, my lady. I would never betray you to my father. You certainly dont deserve his cruelty. But I need this shield to satisfy his need for search. Otherwise, he would just keep on looking for you."

I could tell that he was sincere. But Lyanna said,"Why should I trust you? You could just betray me to your father."

I could smell the smile on his face as he said,"On my honor, my lady. I would never speak of this to anyone." One wrong move from the prince and he would be dead I thought.

Lyanna finally said with a heavy voice,"What is world coming to if I can't trust the honor of the crown prince?" With that, she let go of the shield.

"You ride better than even the kingsguard, my lady", the prince said with honeyed words. I rolled my eyes as Lyanna laughed and said,"I am sure. But then, they were not raised in the vast lands of the north."

Before the prince could continue his speech I stepped out from behind the tree and said,"Perhaps we should get back my lady? It wouldn't be long before others found us here." They both got startled and turned towards me. The prince asked me,"How long have you been standing there?"

I sheathed my knife quickly but not before the prince caught a sight of it. I smiled at him and said,"Longer than you." I could practically hear his thought. Back at the royal academy, we used to play a game. By sneaking up close to people's back and then finally revealing yourself. It was a way of saying that I could have killed you if I wanted to. I could have killed him if I wanted to. I felt his fear. Controlled but still there underneath his quite demeanor. Maybe he was thinking that he should have brought a kingsguard with him. I looked over his shoulder at Lyanna and said again,"My lady." She looked at me as if just remembering me again. Then she quickly gathered her bearings and said,"Aye, Lord Frost." She walked over to me and took my arm.

"Farewell, my prince. I will hold you to your word", she said to him. He bowed to her again and said,"You need not worry, my lady. I know how to handle my father." My eyes met his and after a brief pause I nodded at him. I turned Lyanna around and we started walking towards the camp. After a while of quiet walking, she said,"How did you find me, Lord Frost? Were you following me?"

I smiled at her and said,"First, let me congratulate you on your jousting. That was a fine piece of riding. My mother would have been proud of you. And if you don't mind my saying, you may have fooled others but I knew it was you the moment you entered the arena. So, naturally I followed you here after the king issued the search for you." She hummed to acknowledge me and seems to be struggling to say something.

"You can ask me whatever is it that you want, my lady", I told her.

"Am I that easy to read?" she asked with a slightly amused tone.

"No, my lady. I am just better than most at reading people", I told her. She nodded and said,"I saw the knife in your hand when you spoke to the prince. You made sure to show it to him before you put it away. Were you going to kill him?"

"If it was a choice between you and him, then yes", I told her. She looked at me in a strange way and said,"Thank you, my lord. But that would have been treason."

I smiled at her and said,"It would be a small price to pay for you, my lady." We had reached the tents.

"You should change your clothes, my lady. Can't have you going to the arena in riding clothes. I will stand guard", I said to her.

"What would I do without you, my lord", she said and kissed me on my cheek before she went inside the tent. I stood there like an idiot staring after her. She came out of the tent to find me exactly where she had left me. She took my arm and said,"Shall we?" I shook my head and said,"Aye, my lady."

We went to the arena and sat with our party. For some reason, I wasn't really paying attention to the tourney. But Prince Rhaegar unhorsed Ser Barristan in the last tilt and became the champion of the jousting. The noise from the crowd was deafening. The prince rode a victory lap around the arena for the crowd. A squire came and put the crown of blue roses on his lance. He rode towards the nobles stage and all smiles died when he rode past his wife. He came to a halt before our party and placed crown on Lyanna. I felt Lyanna's surprise and the anger from Robert and Brandon. Not long after, I found myself in the tent of the Starks. Brandon was going on about wanting to kill the prince for the insult. A few agreed with him. I rolled my eyes and said,"honestly, Brandon. It was nothing more than a compliment. Lady Lyanna is beautiful. You can hardly expect that no one would notice it." Brandon wasn't satisfied and went on about the honor of starks and such. After letting of some stream, we finally headed to the final feast of the tourney. Lord Stark insisted that we all attend. It would make it look as if nothing was amiss.

We mostly kept to ourselves in the feast. But the prince's party kept throwing glances at us. Brandon wasn't helping either. He had been constantly staring at the prince as if looking for an opportunity to start a fight. Even though his father had explicitly forbidden him. Before things could escalate, I decided to distract him by the only thing he loved as much as fighting and drinking. Women. We left the main hall towards the sea of tents. We were half way down the courtyard when we heard a voice behind us say,"my lords." We turned to find lady Ashara standing there. We approached her and Brandon said,"My lady? Did you have a need of us?" as if implying something else. I rolled my eyes and she said,"Aye, my lord. The prince has requested your presence." Damn, I thought to myself. I was trying to put distance between the prince and Brandon. I felt Brandon go still and tense his shoulders. Then he almost growled,"Lead the way, my lady."

Lady Ashara turned towards the main hall but lead us past it rather than inside. That was curious. Last I saw the prince was inside the hall. I took in a deep breath. She smelled like roses but also tense. So, even our escort wasn't sure as to what will happen. Soon we came to a door that had two guards outside bearing the sun of Dorne on their chest. We entered to find ourselves in a large common room. The prince sat at the head of the room. Ser Arthur and Ser Oswald were standing behind him. To the left of the prince sat his wife. She was carrying a little girl in her arms. On the other side of the prince sat two men who also looked Dornish. Their attention distracted from the boy playing by their feet. Next to the princess on the other side sat Lord Whent. Lady Ashara sat down next to the princess after introducing us.

Brandon stood in the center of the room with me slightly behind him to the right. Finally the prince said,"I wanted to apologize to you, my lord." He was looking at Brandon.

"It was not my intention to anger you or your family. I was simply trying to compliment Lady Lyanna's beauty", he said. Brandon finally said,"It was ill done. My sister is woman betrothed and you are a married man." The prince nodded and said,"Like I said it was not my intention. But I would warn you to be careful about what you speak even inside your tent. Had your words reached my father rather than me? This would be a very different meeting." I felt Brandon's anger rising.

"Is that a threat, your grace?" he said with a growl. Before anyone could speak, one of the olive skinned men said,"I would be careful with what you say, little pup. One wrong move and you wouldn't walk out of here."

"I wish you would try that. It was hardly my best work in the tourney", I whispered. All eyes turned to me. The prince gave the man who had spoken a reproachful look. But the brash man continued,"You think you can best all of us, wildling? And then what? You would just walk out of here after killing the crown prince?"

I shrugged and said,"I was able to get away with killing a queen once. And I almost killed a king once too. Believe me when I say that this seems far easier than those." I smiled at him and he opened his mouth to speak again. But the prince said,"That's enough, Oberyn." It looked like the man still wanted to argue but he wasn't about to speak against the prince.

"I apologize for my good brother but anger sometimes gets the best of him", the prince said. I snorted. The prince eyed me and I said,"It was all very nicely planned, dear prince but sloppy. You are all novice conspirators."

Now I had all of their attention. Brandon looked at me with a question in his eyes too.

I put a hand on his shoulder and said to the prince,"It was a brilliant ruse to get an audience with the Starks, your grace. I mean you couldn't publicly meet with any of the high lords or even their heirs since the king is here. A little insult and here you are to apologize. And now you are being very understanding and compassionate to the very family you insulted. As if its not your fault at all. Instead you are this kind and benevolent prince who is trying to save the heir apparent to the north. I am sure Lord Stark would see that as a huge favor. And you could try and get a favor back from him. Maybe his support and the Tully's since Brandon is marrying into the family. Also Robert since he is also marrying into the family. Lord Arryn and Stark grew up together. So it goes without saying that he would back him up as well. You are after all proving what a great and understanding ruler you would be compared to your father."

I felt the air in the room change. "And why would I want to do that, Lord Frost?" asked the prince. I snorted and said,"To overthrow your father perhaps." They all shared a look between them. I felt a little indignant. So, I said,"And what kind of conspiracy is known by the entire realm?"

There was an uncomfortable silence after my speech. I saw a lot of them shift uncomfortably. Finally the silence was broken by the second Dornish man. "And what would a wildling know about conspiracy and the greater good?" he said. I looked at him as if he was insane.

"The greater good? Whose greater good? Yours? or the people's?" I asked him. Before he could continue, I turned to the prince and said,"Before the 2nd challenge, you asked me where I learnt sword fighting and fighting tactics. Well, I learnt them in the palace of my father. I was a prince too, your highness. In a land far away and beyond the reach of even your mighty dragons. I was second in line to the throne. I was taught fighting, strategies and conspiracy from as early as I could walk. I have seen what conspiracies do to a realm. I know what greed does to the realm as well. How many men, women and children would die in this conspiracy of yours? Have you ever thought about that? Even if your father is mad, how many people can he truly kill in his entire reign? Even a single battle would leave more men dead than what your father could inflict in a decade. Next time you want to play a maestro at politics, remember to look your children in the face. Look at them and ask yourself if you are willing to risk their lives for this greater good. If you cannot then you dont have the right to risk the lives of other's children either. Just because they are not born a prince or princess doesn't mean that their lives are worthless."

I felt Brandon's hand on my shoulder. I turned around and nodded at Brandon. I turned back to the prince and said,"Just a piece of advice from a former prince, your highness." He nodded at me while everyone in the room was staring at me. "You are telling the truth, aren't you?" he asked. I nodded. He stood up and started pacing the room.

"From one prince to another then, tell me what should I do if my father hurts even my own family? He is mad. And getting madder by the day. He sees conspirators behind every shadow. I'm afraid that even if I dont act, it will still lead to a war sooner or later", he said.

"Perhaps even against the Starks", said the Dornish man again. I eyed him and the prince said,"Prince Doran of Dorne. My good brother and friend."

I eyed the Dornishman and said,"You would loose that war, my lords." Oberyn snorted and stood up as well. "You think too much of yourselves, little pup. If we want, none of you would even make it back north," he said to me.

Brandon growled,"Check your fucking history, you olive cunt. Last time the six kingdoms went against the north. We butchered you lot."

Oberyn laughed and said,"Check your fucking history too pup. Last I remember you knelt to the dragons but not us."

"Aye Torrhen Stark did that. He did that to save his people. Because that was his duty. Duty of a king. He put his people before him. You all ought to remember that", I said to them.

After a small silence, I said,"And the last time I checked, there are no more dragons. So, it would be wise not to anger the north. Its the only kingdom that can easily declare itself independent and you wouldn't be able to do shit about it."

Oberyn went to reply but the prince yelled,"Enough. This is not why I called this meeting."

I sighed and said,"Regardless of why you called this meeting, it will bear no fruit. Your actions saw to that. But do heed my words, your grace." I grabbed Brandon by the arm and headed towards the door.

Brandon was beside himself. I had to constantly air craft our conversation so as to make sure that his voice didn't reach any prying ears. We went to the Starks tent to find Lord Stark there along with Lyanna and Howland. They were all relieved to see us. Brandon told the whole story to his father in his own words. With a lot of anger and swearing. Once Brandon had vented, I filled in Lord Stark about the situation as I saw it.

"My lord, they are just playing politics. There's nothing to take personal here. Starks were the key here. You and Lord Arryn are like brothers. Not to mention that Ned is like a second son to Lord Arryn as well. Robert has loudly proclaimed already that Ned is like a brother to him. Even more so than his own brother. And he is betrothed to lady Lyanna. And the Tully's are all set to be family. By bringing the Starks in, the prince gets the support of the 4 out of 7 kingdoms. He already has Dorne with him through his wife. Tywin would gladly back him over his father or simply stand aside to let the Targaryen's kill each other. That would guarantee that the power shift in his favor from his father. But they are all incompetent. Every lord in the realm knows their ambitions. They could've done this through back channels but they have cocked it up completely now. Its best for us to leave their damn games to them and just return north", I finished for lord Stark.

Lord Stark nodded and said,"I agree with Lord Frost. Let us put this behind us and return home. I want to leave at first light tomorrow."

I went back to my tent to see all of my guards there. I sat with Shadow and saw that only one chest remained. I didn't particularly care. It would take Lord Tully a moon or so to arrange everything to be transported. Then another moon for the transportation to reach Alera. I had two moons to get back. And I intended to use all of that time. I eyed the only chest of gold left. Half of the gold was gone. But I still had half left. I thought about my people and their future. If I had my way, I would trade all of this gold on the way back as well. Freefolk have no need for gold. Survival was more important than gold right now. But life is more than mere survival. I stared at one of the maps of westeros. I scratched Shadow behind his ears as I started planning the trip back.

Author's note:

My apologies for the long absence. but i have no excuse. the summer was beautiful and I got busy with life. Hopefully I can return back to the story more often now that summer is almost over. I didn't want to spend too much time on this chapter because we already know the events of this time. I just wanted to add a little bit for frost. from here i can focus on my own story.


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